Uzumaki
by gottahavekyuubi
Summary: AU After the confrontation with Sasuke after the Five Kage Summit, Naruto and Karin end up seeing more of each other than what was originally planned. Nothing life changing will happen right? NaruKarin NarutoxKarin oh...and some NaruIno thrown in. It'll get a little dark every now and then, so you've been warned.
1. The Other One

**Ok. So here is another fanfic! I am not abandoning Search for Greatness nor am I stopping Kogane no oji. I am just writing this thing because it is an idea that's been bothering me for weeks! And yes, It's NarutoxKarin. Weird huh? But, I was inspired to write this by looking at the artwork of AquariusWind on Deviant Art. Check out her artwork! The link is on my profile xD **

**So just a heads up: Naruto knows his mother in this. It shall be explained in great length in later chapters for those who are confused. And this fanfiction won't be as action oriented as my other ones so...be wary for some crappy and extremely sappy moments since I don't really know how to write these types of things. It's a learning experience I guess. Tell me what y'all think!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the artwork that this is based around.**

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**Chapter 1: The Other One**

Naruto glared intently at the Uchiha standing on the crystal waters of the river. The waters had finally calmed to a steady flow. The clashes of the weak versions of their attacks made the river fluctuate for quite some time; just imagine the full power. Naruto stood tall in all of his orange loving glory; his deep blue eyes glowing with animosity. The boy trembled slightly as he and his best friend continued the stare-down of the ages. Neither broke eye contact as they continued to gauge each other's power and strength, seeing as the two of them were nothing but power.

"If we fight…" Naruto suddenly began. "We'll both die."

The river fluctuated once more as a great breeze of wind flowed down from the top of the bridge. Leaves flittered down covering the line of sight for both boys. The silence was unending, even with the shuffling of leaves and trees within the newfound wind. Sasuke continued his glare as his once black eyes began to dull out into a dark grey. But then, the Last Uchiha shut his eyes and heaved a sigh, before smirking maliciously.

"Then I guess…" Sasuke paused and activated his sharingan once the Zetsu began to rise from beneath the water. "I'll kill you before you kill me."

With that said, Sasuke was sucked into the portal of Tobi and the two vanished into thin-air with the Zetsu clones disappearing into the river. Naruto kept his glare up but looked away and faced Sakura and Kakashi before turning a deep shade of purple. Sakura's eyes shot from her head. She dashed for the boy and grabbed him before he fell into the river. She had a meek look on her face, and gave a small embarrassed smile to her sensei.

"I f-forgot that the k-kunai was poisoned…" Sakura let out a wry laugh and sighed in defeat. "Naruto, hold still and I'll heal you…"

"N-No problem…" Naruto groaned slightly as he rested his head in her chest.

Healing chakra sprang up around her hand and began to soothe the pain radiating across his cheek and closing off the cut and removing the poison in the process. Naruto's face soon began to regain color and almost immediately, the boy was back to normal with the Kyuubi aiding in the healing process. Naruto quickly removed himself from Sakura's embrace and coughed awkwardly.

The three of them jumped up the large bridge and headed towards the wounded prisoner. She was a redheaded girl with half of her hair being wild and all over the place and her other half being straight. She wore thick rimmed glasses and had red eyes. She was lying against the railing of the bridge with a distraught look on her face as she came to the realization that Sasuke was no longer the same as what he once was. Nowhere near.

A few footsteps were head and the girl painfully turned and faced the three Konoha shinobi standing at the other end of the bridge. She looked down and was hoisted up and piggybacked Kakashi as they left the scene. Her red hair waved softly as they tree hopped away for their unconscious teammates and comrades. Her glasses began to slip down her nose, but were caught on Kakashi's neck guards.

'W-What is going on…?' Karin looked tiredly at the team carrying her back to Konoha. 'D-Damn that Uchiha…after all that I've done…'

Within seconds, she began to look over her life and everything that has led up to this point. A life filled with disappointment and lies. Promises unfulfilled, the wrong crowds and false love. Her eyes trailed down at the grass below their feet and took a deep sorrowful breath, but tried not to strain herself too much. The group made a quick detour and headed into the forest off the main road and found a small clearing with four bodies lying on the ground, three men and a large dog.

All four of them began to wake up thanks to Sakura administering the antidote and healing their bodies and removing the poison from their systems. Almost immediately, Kiba burst into anger and began to scream at Sakura for how stupid she was and how little she had thought the situation through. But through all of this, the golden haired boy of the group kept to himself and stared aimlessly into the grand forest surrounding them.

One by one, Karin began to examine the Konoha ninja's chakra signatures and one by one, she got a very good idea as to how these shinobi acted, thought and moral codes were. The pale skinned black haired shinobi, was an enigma, and basically had a chakra aligning itself slowly with good. The dog and the kid with the fang tattoos on his cheeks, although loud and brash in person, his chakra was strong and peaceful and really loyal too. But the one that already had Karin slightly worried, and this is just from physical appearance; she was staring at the bowl-cut boy wearing the god-awful green jumpsuit. But even though she couldn't tell where his chakra coils were, she could sense the chakra there, and to be frank, she was impressed.

The group, now fully healed and ready to continue on their journey back to the home village, Karin was fully awake and in less pain, but in pain nonetheless. But as they continued on their journey, the blond orange wearing shinobi was constantly arguing with the dog-boy, as Karin began to call the tattooed boy. She was surprised by the interaction between Konoha shinobi and their comrades. With a moment of boredom, she actually listened in on their conversation.

"...Naruto-baka!" Kiba finished with only the last part of the sentence being heard.

'Naruto?' Karin's eyebrows rose slightly. 'That's the Naruto that Sasuke constantly griped about?'

Naruto clenched his fists and replied with a not up to par rebuttal, resulting in a punch to the back of the head, via Haruno Sakura. Naruto was bent over gripping his head, all the while, laughing with Kiba and Sakura. Soon enough, the laughter was contagious and had the rest of the team laughing, except for Karin. Her eyes were wide as she used her abilities to try and get a better feel of the shinobi that caused her former beau so much annoyance.

'U-Unbelievable…what is this chakra…?' Karin felt her body soar high into the sky. It was almost as if her pain and inhibitions were released from her body. 'It's such…amazingly…peaceful chakra…never have I ever felt something like this…'

Karin tightened her grip around Kakashi and tilted her head into Kakashi's back, almost as if she was about to go to sleep, but there was a sudden darkness in the pit of her stomach as she continued to examine the shinobi. That darkness continued, and seemed to never end, pressurizing her into the pits of her mid. All around her, she felt the colors bleed into red and black. Karin looked up and around the blond boy and found that he was surrounded by an aura that had eerie resemblance to a great Nine-tailed fox.

Karin had never once been so terrified. What really scared her though, was the untamable power that resided deep within the boy had her terrified that she was going to the same village as he was. That kind of power wasn't even felt when she and the former team Taka took on the eight-tails jinchuriki. Karin tried to come up with a conclusion as to why he held such malicious power within his body, but filed it away for another time when she realized that she'd been staring at the back of the blonds head. Her cheeks lit up slightly. She looked away and stared at the ground for a while.

'It'll be a while before I get into anyone like that…' Karin whispered.

The rest of the journey was quiet. No, it wasn't quiet, but rather, not as loud as it normally would have been. With Naruto off in his own little world thinking about his difficult situation with Sasuke, Kiba saying something stupid and the others not really saying much, it left Karin with much to think about, namely, where she stood, now that she was no longer aligned with anyone.

'I'll most likely get arrested and thrown into jail…' Karin mentally shivered. 'Or worse…I'll get executed…'

Karin reached over with her hand and weakly, pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and somehow, once more, he gaze landed on the figure of Uzumaki Naruto. Karin continued to stare and was genuinely surprised at his appearance.

'Everything Sasuke said…' Karin thought. 'It's almost as if Sasuke was jealous of him…this Naruto is nothing like the one that Sasu-…the Uchiha…always spoke about.'

Naruto put his arms behind his head and started to walk slowly for just a moment. He was lost in his own thoughts as he stared off into the trees above them. The small rays of light tickling his whiskered cheeks and bouncing off of his sun kissed hair. Naruto stopped suddenly and took a small breath before sighing in content and continuing forward. Karin quickly noticed that Sakura had a flash of worry on her face, only for it to disappear before she could examine the pinkette's expression any further.

Karin shut her eyes and took the same action, making Kakashi turn his head slightly. The jounin gave her a small look, but then gave her an eye-smile. Karin raised an eyebrow and rested her chin in his shoulder, knowing that she is still too weak to walk on her own. Kakashi simply fixed her position on his back and sped up the pace since he was starting to fall behind Kiba. The Cyclops of a jounin sped up his steps and started to catch up to the somewhat speeding blond just a few clicks away from him.

Once he caught up with Naruto Kakashi looked over to see Naruto had no expression on his face. Naruto's cerulean eyes were glimmering and looked deep in thought. Karin saw this, and for the first time, she had seen his face up close and was surprised by his facial appearance. From all of the descriptions that Sasuke gave her, she had half-expected Naruto to be some god-awful thing to look at, but to tell the truth, she felt that the blond wasn't too bad.

He looked over from the corner of his eyes and gave Karin a small smile. Karin felt her face heat up from just how bright his smile actually was. Suddenly, she sensed a great burst of peace and happiness radiate from the blond smiling at her. His glinting teeth seemed a bit much, but Karin seemed to not mind the sight. But there was a sudden burst from that peace once more. It was powerful and it filled her mind with darkness.

Everything was thrown in a thousand-mile-per-hour downward spiral. But from the darkness, the girl was met with two powerful blood red eyes that glared, menacingly into her own crimson eyes. Her skin shuddered, and grew cold in the presence of such powerful orbs. She could feel her chakra fluctuating because of the powerful force that seemed to practically be breathing in her face. Her eyes were wide when she saw what seemed to be the face of a beautiful, light-skinned, redhead with the most beautiful violet eyes that Karin had ever seen. The image was seen in the center of the slitted irides of the beast glaring at her.

The woman gave Karin a small smirk, and tilted her head as she looked at the red-eyed girl. Karin's eyes were wide and filled with fear. Karin felt her jaw unhinge, and felt her heart race in fear. This boy that she's sensed is filled with such strange secrets that Karin couldn't even fathom. But the dark chakra narrowed its blood-red eyes and sent a major burst of its own charka, nearly scaring Karin off of Kakashi's back.

Looking back to the normal world, Karin found that she was now on the ground. Sakura and the others were looking at her with worried expressions, despite the fact that she was an enemy. But once Naruto came into the scene, Karin saw a quick flash of the crimson eyes staring at her through Naruto's own blue. The redhead had seen a lot of scary things in her life, but never had she ever felt that dark. Never had she felt that terrified. In a quick move without thinking, she started backing away once Naruto reached forward with his hand.

A small pang of hurt reverberated through his heart. He looked down and slowly retracted his hand, but Karin quickly reached out and grabbed it, with a quick and brisk apology, Naruto lifted her from the ground and carried her on his own back, rather than Kakashi's. Karin's sensing abilities were exploding in all directions from the amount of dark chakra shooting off of Naruto's body. Karin gripped tightly, tighter than what she did with Kakashi; actually, with Kakashi, she held him loosely, hence the fact she fell off. Naruto nearly choked from the amount of pressure she was pressing on his neck, but immediately loosened.

"Oi, Naruto!" Kiba started. "I think the redhead likes you!"

"How youthful Naruto-kun!" Lee howled.

**"I DON'T LIKE HIM! I AM JUST MAKING SURE THAT I DON'T FALL OFF AGAIN!" **Karin roared back, nearly causing Naruto's eardrums to burst. **"YOU BAKA!"**

"Now, now. No need to get feisty." Kakashi gave her another eye smile. "We're all trying to go to the same place now."

"Don't worry." Naruto said in a reassuring voice. "We'll get there all fine and then we'll all go our separate ways."

_-At the village…_

Naruto was walking towards his most frequented place in the entire village; Ichiraku Ramen. His stomach grumbled and tumbled as he walked through the streets of his home village. Everything around him was making good progress in being rebuilt, especially with the help of Yamato's Mokuton jutsu. A small smile grew on his lips as the civilians began to cheer his name and wave lovingly towards their newest hero. Some even went so far as to say, 'I hope you become Hokage one day'. Naruto didn't know if they were kissing up to him, or if they were truly genuine in their words.

For so long, he was ostracized and made an outcast by many of the people that cheered his name. For the longest time, the only form of interaction between him and the villagers was the occasional blurb of harsh words, or even going full out and actually kicking him or tossing him about, or just downright slandering him in any way they could, be it talking behind his back, or insulting him to his face, but now, he didn't know how to respond to their kind words and kind actions. So, he simply hunched his shoulders slightly and looked down towards the dirt road with a light blush on his cheeks.

Making a quick turn, Naruto walked towards the nearest exit and took the quickest detour towards Ichiraku. After all of those years of running off to find a quiet and secluded place to cry, gave Naruto an imaginary map of the entire village, one that is burned into his mind probably to the end of his days. Looking up, Naruto felt his eyes light up from the sight of the little paper lantern moving swiftly in the blowing wind. The new Ichiraku Ramen stand was no longer a nice hut with cloth hanging over the front of the stand, but instead, it was its own actual restaurant with a large counter and multiple seats.

The coloration paid a great homage to their favorite customer, by coloring much of the store orange and black. Naruto smiled devilishly and charged in, sliding the rice paper door open, completely forgetting his predicament and jumped onto a stool with drool already flowing down the sides of his mouth. He slammed his hands onto the counter getting the attention of Teuchi.

"FIVE BOWLS OF MISO RAMEN!" Naruto roared with a loud laugh. "And keep em' coming old man!"

"You got it Naruto!" Teuchi started laughing and called the orders out to his ever faithful daughter, Ayame, whom of which was working furiously with the order. Naruto sat in silence as the intoxicating smells of the wondrous ramen came floating into his nose. But, the wooden doors suddenly slid open. With Ayame and Teuchi in the back working on the orders, in came two chunin that witnessed Naruto's battle with Pain. They were surprised and actually relieved it seemed, to see Naruto.

"Hey!" One of them shouted out with a smile. "It's the hero of Konoha!"

"You're right!" The other laughed. The elder one quickly walked up to a seat next to Naruto and pulled out a notebook. "Please, honor me with your autograph! My son would love it if you did!"

"Same here! My daughter would love it if you signed an autograph for her!" The other shinobi joined in.

Naruto turned red from embarrassment. Looking around for whatever escape he had, he tuned out the two shinobi and tried to listen in for whatever distraction he could take advantage of. Thanks to the newly renovated Ichiraku Ramen stand, the Ichiraku's hired a full staff of waiters, cooks and even deliverymen and women. So once Teuchi got the order of deep-fried pork cutlets, the order came out first. With a ring of the counter bell, Teuchi got the attention of one of his deliverymen. But Naruto quickly Kawarimi'd with the deliveryman and took the order himself and started running away as fast as he could towards wherever he could.

After he felt that he was a good distance away from Ichiraku Ramen, he looked around and found that the street he was on was quite desolate and empty. He sighed and sat against the nearest wall and slid down and rested on the ground, placing the order next to him. He leaned his head on the wall and stared at the deep blue sky without a thought in his mind. But, then, he realized that the order belonged to someone. He frantically opened the casing and stared at the destination; The T&I Department of Konoha Intelligence.

He shut the casing for to-go food and shot to his feet. He looked up and found that the sun was still high in the sky, with a lot of time still remaining in his day. So why couldn't he play deliveryman for the day. So, he took his sweet time making his way towards the T&I Department building. Now though, the streets towards the building were empty. Almost no one populated the area. Naruto smiled slightly, but didn't let it show. The cheers and the kind smiles were something that was going to take time to grow on him, and he was sure of it.

Naruto took a right and headed down a great hill and found that grass was already growing and tree saplings were seen sprouting from the flattened ground. Naruto smirked at the village and how well it was bouncing back from the invasion of Pain. Taking another detour and finding the surprisingly small building labeled with the symbol of the T&I department of intelligence on the front, Naruto opened the door and walked inside of the building and headed for the prison rooms. It was a quaint journey, no one to mock him or insult him, no one that begged for him to let them free and best of all, no new fans to bother him.

He found the only room holding any people within it and knocked. There was a quick reply and the door slid open to reveal Karin sitting in a chair while picking her nails while two interrogators were bickering like children and Ibiki was rubbing his temples. Naruto held in his laughter remembering the terrifying and imposing figure that Ibiki was as a man. The blond walked ahead and shivered in fear once Ibiki stood from his seat. The larger and older man kindly took the casing of food and started laying out the meal in front of the redhead sitting behind the table.

"You've got your food. Now eat up."

"Karin ordered this?" Naruto asked. "W-Why?"

"She runs a hard bargain for information." Ibiki groaned. "Why don't you join in on the interrogation Naruto? Since my two subordinates are being less than adequate."

"Erm…why not?" Naruto sighed and pulled up a seat and sat next to Ibiki. 'I was hoping that I could eat my ramen by now…'

"Ok. Now tell us what you know of the Akatsuki and what they're planning." Ibiki said with a voice that demanded respect. "You have literally no reason to hold back information."

"Hold on." Karin replied with a small smirk. "I just need to finish my delicious pork cutlets…kami. You Konoha people sure know how to cook. I'm impressed."

"Don't try changing the subject Karin!" Naruto grabbed her shoulders.

But suddenly, the two disappeared in a puff of smoke.

_-Somewhere…_

The smoke cleared and the two were now in a vaguely familiar room, well to Naruto that is. Once the smoke was officially cleared, the two looked around awkwardly and found that Lord Fukasaku and Lady Shima were sitting at the other side of the table with wide eyes. Karin's eyes bugged from her head and she nearly freaked out from being in the presence of toads of all things. Then she looked down to see caterpillars, insects of varying sizes. She quickly shot a hand to her mouth to hold in her incoming gag.

"Fukasaku-sama, Shima-baa-chan!" Naruto cried out and dropped Karin off of the table and headed off to give the two Toad Sages the tightest hug he could muster. "Wait…what in the world am I doing here?"

"What the heck is she doing here?" Fukasaku asked. "I thought we only summoned Naruto-chan…"

"These two were apparently in physical contact." Shima replied. "Well young lady…whom might you be?"

"K-Karin." The redhead replied. "N-No surname that I know of…"

"Well then…how were you two in contact with one another?" Shima asked.

"I…Erm…" Karin was surprised by the amount of chakra that the two elder toads possessed. To be frank, the girl was slightly terrified. "We uhm…"

"I was interrogating her." Naruto quickly replied. "She was a part of Sasuke's team, so she could possibly have information about the Akatsuki and what they're doing with Sasuke."

"So she's an enemy?" Fukasaku asked with a raised eyebrow. Karin's eyes nearly widened when she felt a chakra spike from the green toad.

But before Karin could reply, Naruto raised a hand and shook his head. He then turned his head and looked at the redhead sitting in one of the seats. Karin was surprised to say the least. She barely knew this guy but he was so quick to defend her against whatever these toads meant to him. She felt his chakra fluctuate in a way that made his actions seem genuine. He had a stern look on his face as he stared the two toads down.

"There won't be any need to kill her, or dispose of her." Naruto said. "She's under my protection since it's my fault that she's here."

"Are you sure, Naruto-chan?" Shima asked.

"I am dead serious Shima-baa-chan." Naruto smiled softly. 'Besides…Kaa-chan seems to like her…'

_Outside…_

The group began to walk towards their destination and seemed to be making a good walk, although the walk was plagued by the innate rambling of Karin. Naruto was confused and seemed to be wondering and worrying about the redhead's sanity. But then after at least ten minutes of blocking her out, he sighed and decided to listen in on what the redhead was saying.

"…I seduced him…I helped him for nothing! That damned Uchiha tried to even kill me! The nerve of that guy!" Karin placed her hands on her hips and glared viciously towards nothing.

"And yet…I still…why do I feel this way for him…why…why didn't he feel the same…? Was there someone else…was it because I wasn't smart or strong enough? Am I not attractive…?" Karin sighed and looked down stopping suddenly. "I bet it's because of my cursed red hair…"

'Why the hell does this sound familiar…?' Naruto thought with a strange look marring his face. Suddenly a bright blush formed on his cheeks and he quickly forced his hands into his pocket and started walking forward with a quick pace. The images of the first meeting of his mother came flittering in his mind. 'S-She's almost exactly like Kaa-chan…'

"Well…actually it's because of your red hair that I think you're beyond beautiful!" Naruto suddenly blurt out. 'Fuck. Did I just say that?'

"N-Naruto…?" Karin looked at him with a light blush growing on her cheeks. "W-What did you say?"

"N-Nothing! Let's just continue on to the Great Toad Sage!" Naruto started walking faster trying to get away from the redheaded girl.

"B-But…" Karin looked with a distraught expression on her face. "I…whatever…he probably didn't even mean it…"

Karin charged forward and followed Naruto with the same pace that he was going at and followed the Toads towards the central husk. The four entered and bowed to the various toads staring at them and walked through the great structure towards the Great Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku. A great door was opened and they came to see the sight of a massive toad with a grand hat on his head.

"H-Hey…Uhm…erm…I kinda…" Karin was starting to stutter in the presence of such great beings. There was so much that she didn't know about Naruto, and most of those things, she could do without knowing. "C-can I go back?"

"If you want to stay in a prison cell for an unspecified amount of time instead of hanging with Konoha's number one knuckleheaded ninja…then go ahead." Naruto said without a single stutter. "You could stay with me and I'll be able to let you walk around and be free…to an extent."

"W-What do you mean?" Karin asked slightly worried for what he meant. With a quick sensing of his chakra, she found nothing wrong that would signify any evil intent with his words.

"I mean, stay under my protection." Naruto replied. "With me…the village won't bother someone under the protection of the Hero."

"I mean…thanks…but why?" Karin asked. "Why are you doing this for me? You don't even know me."

"Does that really matter?" Naruto asked with a small smile. "We could get to know each other. Enemy or not, it doesn't matter to me."

"Uhm…I guess…" Karin sighed and walked closer to Naruto. "So what are you…and what is all of this?"

"Well, for starters, this is the home of the Toad summons. I am the Toad Sage, the only Shinobi Toad Sage alive." Naruto began. "I have mastered senjutsu, and that big toad is the Great Toad Sage."

"T-That's amazing…" Karin looked around the room with wide eyes as she examined every crack and crevice and started sensing the large toads surrounding them from the corners and the walls and outside of the building. 'Everything has chakra…it's amazing!'

"Ah…" The old Toad Sage began. "…Who are you again?"

Karin and Naruto face faulted and glared somewhat at the old senile toad. Karin was the first to straighten up, but then Naruto followed shortly. He was glaring at the old Toad but then, the wrinkled lips of the toad began to crease and began to open.

"I have received another prophecy…the future…" He began. "It will be one filled with great strife…a great battle will rage between every shinobi…and a clan will be restored and the other will be destroyed. Either the clan of the red eyes or the clan of the red hair…and whichever path you choose…it will decide how the world will either end or be rebirthed."

"How do I do this?" Naruto asked. "How do I even begin to take ahold of this prophecy?"

"The Kyuubi." Another Toad said. "You must control the beast in order to bring peace. It is the first key to the door that opens to your true potential. But with this key, there is another."

The toad elongated itself and Karin nearly gagged at the sight. The toad unraveled its scroll body and it came to reveal a complex seal formula drawn upon the scroll. On the far right though, there was an Uzumaki swirl with a box on top of it. The toad nodded at Naruto knowing that the boy knew full well of what he was to do.

"Wait." Karin suddenly said. "The Kyuubi? Didn't the Yondaime kill the beast?"

"No." Naruto replied. "In truth…he sealed the beast inside of me. I am the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. And this seal was devised by the Fourth to allow me to control the beast."

"Naruto-chan." Fukasaku chided. "I don't think it's wise to give information so freely to enemies, former or not."

"I know." Naruto replied. "But I trust her. Anyway. Let's get this going on."

A flame of chakra formed on each fingertip as he placed his palm onto the empty box. The chakra burned into the scroll and the seals began to grow from his chakra, and spread onto his body. Karin started to examine the sudden change and began to feel an overflow of chakra coming from the seals power, almost as if someone's life force was being transferred into the boy. She could sense the chakra and she had to say, it felt vaguely familiar. Using her knowledge she started to think of who's chakra it was. But then thinking back to the conversation, Naruto said that the fourth created the seal. The chakra felt familiar because of the fact that the chakra belonged to someone she knew.

Then she recognized it. The untamable fire within the chakra that showed off the different colors of the persons will. It was so powerful that Karin couldn't miss it. It was beautiful and it filled her with strength. She stared at the chakra flowing into Naruto's body and into his chakra coils. As she watched, she finally realized who's chakra it felt like. It felt like Naruto's. The warmth, the strength, the power, it was all there. There was no doubt about it.

"W-Was your father the Fourth Hokage?" Karin asked suddenly.

The chakra stopped channeling for a moment, but only to resume. Fukasaku and Lady Shima narrowed their eyes at the redhead and started trying to sense her abilities through the use of senjutsu. But Naruto though, had a small smirk on his face when Karin asked. To hear people ask if the Fourth was his father made him smile. Even though it's only happened a few times. He knew his father at least. Once the chakra transfer was over and the seals were changed and reformed, Naruto turned to face Karin and gave her a small smile.

"Tell me all you know…and I'll tell you what you want to know." Naruto smiled softly. "I'm pretty sure you have one hell of a story to tell…and besides, Fukasaku-jiji and Shima-baa-chan need to trust you first."

"Where do I start?" Karin asked.

"Start from the beginning."

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**That's that! This took me a little over a week to write because I kept rewriting and trying to get the characters in character. So I am so sorry if they are OOC. If you haven't noticed, I like to make my character OOC because well, their original personalities are kinda cliche, imho. But yeah...again, tell me what you thought! Was it ok-ish? Was it shit T^T?**

**Anyway, until next time y'all**

**Ja ne!**

**gottahavekyuubi**


	2. Life

**Here's the next chapter!**

**Once more, I've changed everything to make this shit seem more enjoyable! I hope it was good enough! I can't write fluff nor can I write happy scenes without some form of fighting Dx but at least I'm trying lol**

**Oh on another note: HOLY EFFING SHIT! 12 reviews 37 favs 48 followers in about 24 hours?! That's freaking awesome! Come on you guys! Tell your buddies, your naruto fanclubs and tell everyone to read this shit! That is like the best I've ever recieved! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! So as a reward for being so amazing here's your gift!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

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**Chapter 2: Life**

Naruto stared at the redheaded girl waiting for a response. Karin fixed her glasses and gave Naruto a nervous look and sighed before being led from the building and onto one of the giant leaves that surrounded the ever twilight bathed land of Mount Myoboku. Karin sighed, not one to really think of her life, let alone spill her story to people, but maybe, she thought; maybe, Naruto could be the one to take the pain off of her chest and listen.

With Taka, or Hebi, or whatever crazy name Sasuke had come up with at the time, Karin felt that none of them would give a rat's ass about her wellbeing, as shown on the great bridge. Her chest started to pulse in pain from the quick flash of what had happened just a few days ago. Then she realized it.

**"THAT BASTARD FUCKING STABBED ME!"** Karin roared.

Naruto's eyes went wide and he quickly jumped back behind the two toads. His face was dark with fear and his body was shaking. The amount of malicious intent radiating off of the irate redhead was too much for the blond to handle. He stared at her back side as she went off on a rant of how much she hates Sasuke and how much she felt that he was scum. But it was during this, Naruto realized how great of a butt she had, and not only that, she was more curvaceous that Sakura could ever be.

Naruto stopped himself before he could continue with those thoughts. A bright, crimson blush formed on his cheeks. Darting his eyes to different directions; Naruto couldn't help but continue to stare at the great curves that Kami had blessed his protectorate with. The blond suddenly had this strange feeling, almost as if Jiraiya was trying to give him applause. Naruto shook his head and started walking ahead once Karin had calmed down and walked by her side.

Karin felt the burst of calm chakra coming from behind and looked over to Naruto. She gave him a small smile but looked away as he led her towards a bench and sat her down. Naruto plopped next to her and gazed off into the horizon of the homeland of the Toads.

"It's so beautiful y'know." Karin said.

'Verbal tick like Kaa-chan.' Naruto mentally noted.

"It reminds me of my homeland…" Karin sighed and felt the calming chakra of the toads lying on their leaves and the chakra radiating off of Naruto. "The Land of Grass…that's where I'm from."

"Land of Grass?" Naruto asked. "Jiraiya of the Sannin; my sensei and I, traveled for three years, and never had I heard of a Land of Grass…"

"Well that's what I've always called it. Our country never really had a name." Karin replied. "But it was a land filled with wondrous fields of green and oceans of soft, waving blades of grass. The earth was fertile for farming, and the wind was always cool. I bet if you ever went, you'd want to lie down in the grass and just let the wind take you."

"Oh, and how can even forget the people." Karin's face suddenly broke into a smile. "They were some of the kindest I've ever known. They were sincere and genuine in what they meant y'know?"

"Much better than what most of Konoha is…or at least was." Naruto replied. "It seems you've had a better life than I did. So if you don't mind me asking…how in the world did you know of Sasuke?"

"Well…it happened almost four years ago." Karin replied. "It was during the Chunin exams here."

"What?" Naruto's eyes were wide with surprise. He did not see this one coming.

"Well, this is what happened…"

_Flashback…_

"Damn idiot teammates." Karin groaned. "Leaving me alone to find food for our encampment! The nerve!"

Karin had a back full of berries and sticks for firewood, and in her hand that the girl was dragging, was a rope that led to a tied up deer that she had caught and killed. She looked around and fixed her fogged glasses and looked around and began to try and sense where everything was, only to get barraged by the hundreds of thousands of different chakra signatures that filled the forest. The signatures ranged from animal to human, to animal once more, only to go to some strange creatures that Karin had never even sensed before.

Suddenly. There was a deep guttural growl coming from just head. The ground shook slightly, causing Karin to yelp in fear once the source of the growl was seen. It was a massive bear with teeth just as large. Karin jumped back and hit the ground and began to try and slide away, but the bear raised one of its massive paws and brought it down, forcing Karin off the ground.

The girl grabbed onto a branch of a tree, leaving her food and resources on the ground below. After making a quick calculation of her position relative to the best kill spot to the bear, and not taking into account the abilities of such a large bear, she dropped down onto the creature and reached for the knife in her glasses, but just as she was about to get the bear, the bear rose, and slapped the redheaded girl away, smashing her into a tree.

The bear glared at Karin and looked like it was about to eat her. It began to walk forward with a small pace and growled menacingly at the redhead. Karin shut her eyes waiting for the inevitable, but there was a small bang, it was followed by a shout. Karin's eyes sprang open to see a black haired boy with a blue shirt, drop kicking the bear in the head. After another series of the same powerful kicks delivered, the boy stood tall with his back to the redhead, showing off his clan crest.

"W-What's your name?" Karin asked out. Her voice meek from the near prospect of getting eaten.

"Sasuke. Uchiha Sasuke." Once those words left his mouth, the black haired boy took off into the forest, leaving Karin behind to her own devices.

_Flashback over…_

"That's interesting…" Naruto said. "What happened to you after the exam?"

"I ended up becoming Orochimaru's top scientist, and I'm only sixteen!" Karin laughed. "But the things I had to do…"

"Don't go into detail…" Naruto made a quick reply. "I don't want to hear about how Orochimaru likes to gush over children."

Karin suddenly shut quiet. Naruto looked around thinking that he had just said something stupid. He started to feel slightly awkward, but then, Karin started shivering. Naruto was about to place a hand on her shoulder, but she shot her head up and burst into hysterical laughter. Naruto's eyes were wide with fear, and the boy started to slide away.

"Wait! That's…that's just the funniest thing I've heard in a while!" Karin laughed. She began to laugh so hard that tears began to fall from her face. The redhead began to cry harder than she laughed. Soon enough, Naruto realized that she was actually sobbing. The blond quickly grabbed her and held her tightly and began to whisper softly, in hopes of that being able to calm her down.

Her body trembled as she wept into his shirt. Naruto, under different circumstances, would have bolted off towards Kami knows where, and would have left the girl here, but he had a good understanding of who she was and what she's been through. Though not as smart as he would have wanted, but not as dumb as everyone thinks, Naruto understood her. For a girl that's been doing experiments on people for a long time and working alongside some of the scummiest people on the planet, and even joining up with the Akatsuki, Karin was probably on the verge of breakdown.

The catalyst was Sasuke stabbing her through the chest with his chidori spear.

"I've t-tried so hard to be good at something…" Karin continued to weep. "But whatever I was good at…it was either morally wrong or it was just for my body!"

"Wait…" Naruto sat Karin up and stared into her crimson eyes. "What do you mean…?"

"Sasuke…" Karin started, but quickly stopped herself and looked away as tears began to sting in her eyes once more.

"That fucking teme." Naruto growled and gripped the bench.

"No! I wanted it though…" Karin quickly replied. "I…I was naïve and I was just so stupid all this time…"

"…Doesn't mean that I'll accept it." Naruto replied. "After hearing this…you are definitely going to stay with me for a while."

"What?" Karin asked with a tilted head.

"I don't want anything to happen to you, at least anything bad." Naruto replied with a heartwarming smile. "I can tell that you've been through a lot of shit…its ok though…it's because well…I have too."

"What do you mean?" Karin asked while resting a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Wasn't your father the Fourth Hokage?"

"I'm a jinchuriki." Naruto replied. "For the longest time, I was hated, despised, ostracized, insulted…everything that you can think of. I didn't even know who my parents were. No one knew who my parents were except for the Old Man Third Hokage."

"Why didn't he tell you?!" Karin asked with a deep glare marring her face. "I swear the-"

"He did it to protect me." Naruto interrupted. "My father, as I'm pretty damn sure that everyone knows, was a powerful man, with powerful enemies. To tell you the truth, I understand what the Third was thinking when he didn't tell people or me of my heritage."

"But…still…he could have at least put you in an orphanage or in foster care-"

"Tried. Didn't work." Naruto frowned. "They kicked me from the orphanage. No one would take in the 'demon' as their foster child either. So I lived alone in a stinky, rotten, rundown apartment. My room only looks good because I constantly cleaned it to make sure it didn't remind me of the situation I was thrust into. The pain of loneliness and the heartache of having no family…it's only made me and molded me into who I am today, so I wouldn't change that for anything."

"You wouldn't give up being an orphan with no family for having a family?!" Karin asked with a raised voice, but Naruto only shook his head.

"I wouldn't." Naruto gave her a look. "I did, you and I…we wouldn't have met, and you would probably be on death row by now. Sad to say this, but I probably wouldn't even have the same will and drive as I do now if I had a family…"

"I…I think I understand you a bit more…" Karin said with a small smile. "So…onto a better note, for how long are we going to be staying here?"

"I don't know." Naruto replied.

"Naruto-chan. Karin-chan." Shima said suddenly. "You two can leave now. We've received the perfect amount of information. We'll reverse summon you two back to Konoha."

_In Konoha…_

With a pop of smoke the two reappeared in the prison cell with Ibiki rubbing his temples while the two other interrogators were arguing with each other once more. Karin felt a small smile grow on her tear stained cheeks at the interaction between the Konoha shinobi. With a quick peek at their chakra signatures, they felt warm like Naruto's but nowhere near the same level. Ibiki gave the redhead a stern look before he reached behind his belt and brought out some handcuffs.

Naruto saw this and quickly entered sage mode and three clones burst into creation and grabbed Ibiki and his handcuffs while holding down the other two interrogators. Naruto's toad sage eyes stared at Ibiki with a powerful gaze. But before any words could be said, the door opened from behind and in walked Tsunade with Naruto at her side.

"Ibiki, there's no need for cuffs." The woman said with a kind tone. "Naruto has taken the job of keeping her in line."

"Are you sure Tsunade-sama?" Ibiki asked.

"Of course. Now then Karin, Naruto will take you to his temporary home." Tsunade nodded to the people of the prison room and Karin bowed deeply to the woman before hurrying out of the building.

Once on the street, she and Naruto walked side by side with the people staring at them with confused faces. Naruto wasn't surprised, Karin hasn't been seen before, but he was also pretty sure that he would get a mouthful from Sakura, should she find out that Naruto was now caring for Karin. Naruto gave a small laugh receiving a glance from Karin. The redhead simply shook her head and rolled her eyes in response. Karin smiled at the blond and started to walk at a slower pace to stay at his side.

'You know…I think I can start to like this set up.'

With a short, but somehow long and not so boring journey made, the two arrived at Naruto's temporary living quarters. As a sign of thanks from the construction corps of villagers, they made him a great condo and replaced all of his former furniture and belongings with even better products. His sinks and refrigerators were top of the line, his toilet was top of the line; even his damned shower was top of the line. His floorboards were no longer just wood but instead tile. He had beautiful carpets strewn into the floors for a more comfortable walk.

Karin was surprised by the scene and looked to Naruto half hoping that his heartbreaking story of being a pariah in Konoha was fake but Naruto simply shrugged and headed straight for the couch and unzipped his black and orange jumpsuit jacket revealing a black skin-tight shirt that showed off his well-defined muscles and toned body. Karin blushed a mighty storm, and quickly looked away.

"Wait…if you're going to stay on the couch, where am I going to sleep?" Karin asked.

"Why the bed of course." Naruto replied without even looking up.

"I-I can't do that!" Karin looked in awe. "I-It's y-your home I c-can't impose!"

"I don't really care…" Naruto slid out of the couch and walked up to Karin with a playful smirk on his face.

"What are you-AAH!" Karin yelped out with a bright blush growing on her face as Naruto swept her off of her feet and into a bridal style position. Karin's face was soon enough, just as red as her hair. Naruto shook his head and slowly slid his bedroom door open to reveal a large King sized bed and slowly laid Karin onto the mattress.

Karin was surprised with the cleanliness of the bedroom and quickly surmised that Naruto doesn't really spend much time in this room.

"You know…this is actually the first time I've ever even touched this bed." Naruto whispered.

"W-What? Why?" Karin looked at him with an incredulous look. "This thing feels amazing!"

"I'm not really one for material possession's…or even nice things for that manner." Naruto replied and sat on the bed as Karin moved over. "This place is a bit too much for me y'know...I'm just not really used to having so much."

"Don't worry Naruto. I'm pretty sure you'll get used to it someday…"

_A few weeks later…_

For the past few weeks, Naruto and Karin were practically inseparable. They live together and Karin had no idea where to go, so it was understandable. But, they didn't just go anywhere; they went to Ichiraku Ramen and to different places that are frequented for couples. Many of the villagers began to get a hunch that Naruto and the redhead of Konoha were starting to fall for each other. Though a bit too soon in their quite fragile friendship to be thinking like that, Karin couldn't help but think that way.

Naruto was kindhearted, smarter than what he let on, and a hell of a lot stronger than what she originally thought. But the thing Karin loved the most, Naruto let her have his bed, while he slept on a couch. Though that sounds mighty selfish, Karin actually, for the first few days of them living together, argued with the blond to let her sleep on the couch rather than on the bed for once, but Naruto simply replied to the effect of saying: you're a guest, I can't do that to you. Karin at the moment she gave up asking, realized that Naruto was probably one of the most hardheaded idiots she's ever met, and to be frank, it aggravated her at times.

His idiocy though, was one of his major flaws that drove the bespectacled girl up the walls. Though he was smarter than what he led on, he was still an idiot. But at least he was a kindhearted idiot. Karin for so many hours put in large arguments and amounts of pain into the blond jinchuriki only for him to continue his idiotic ways.

But returning to the bed, even though the bed was nice and soft, and surprisingly comfortable, Karin struggled to sleep a lot, because of the change of lifestyle and the change of crowd. Normally, she'd be fucked to sleep or not even sleep because she'd be moving around with Taka, or Hebi or whatever Sasuke felt like naming their group. Some of those dreams turned into very vivid nightmares. But Naruto's calming, peaceful and loving chakra always filled her mind and her heavy heart, forcing those dreams away and filling her dreams of him.

The peace of being with Naruto for the past few weeks made Karin rethink her life and now, she was definitely starting to fall for the Hero of Konoha. How could she not? Karin was also becoming friends with a few of the Konoha eleven, while slowly making her way to becoming friends with the more influential ones in Naruto's life, namely; Haruno Sakura and Hyuuga Hinata.

Upon meeting Hinata, Karin could sense the amount of love in her chakra being directed towards Naruto whenever they were seen together. Karin could see how obvious it was that Hinata was in love with Naruto, and from what the redhead had found out, Hinata confessed her emotions for the blond, but Naruto either didn't reciprocate the feelings or just didn't bring up the subject again. Karin though, was surprised by the obliviousness of Naruto when he didn't realize how obvious Hinata's feelings were for him.

But, Karin had to say though, of all of Naruto's friends, she felt that she hated Sakura more than the rest. Sakura upon their first meeting since Sakura healed her at the bridge; the pinkette immediately interrogated the redhead about the reasons for why Naruto was taking care of her. Karin defended herself from the prying pinkette but, Sakura didn't let up, showing Karin that Sakura held the same stubborn will of Naruto. Within minutes of the interrogation, the two of them blew up into a great screaming battle with both releasing their inner personalities.

Karin during their argument showed that she held the same super strength that Sakura did. Sakura got too violent with the argument and punched down on the ground, shooting up a large amount of earth and rocks from the training ground while Naruto was staying away from the volatile redhead and pinkette. He hid in a tree, remembering Sakura's inhumane super strength from training and worried for Karin's health. But just as Sakura rose her fist from the ground Karin rammed her fist into the ground, splitting the training ground in half, launching dirt and boulders high into the sky.

Naruto had nightmares of the event for a few days. The poor boy was launched from his branch of safety and landed on the ground below to face the hailstorm of falling stones and boulders falling from the sky above. Naruto had a quick glance of Karin and shivered at the sight; Karin's face was dark as a malicious smile was spread across her face and her glasses were covered in lens glare.

Oh that day brought smiles to the redheads face every time she thought of it. But now, she was sitting in the hospital getting processed into the hospital corps. Karin sat in silence and read a special copy of Icha Icha Tactics. She had her face buried in the pages in the book, receiving estranged looks from other nurses and med nin's. Karin paid no attention to them seeing as she was completely engrossed in the contents of the smutty novella.

But her mind was on her wonderful roommate and guardian. The blond was at times, she had to admit, a bit of a handful because of his outgoing persona, but she could honestly say; he was a great person to be around. Karin sighed though and looked away remembering what he said at Mount Myoboku. Even though it was so unimportant, it made her heart flutter. He had called her beautiful because of her red hair; the same red hair that she seemed to despise more than anything else in the world. Another smile formed on her lips. She unconsciously slid a hand through her red hair and fixed her brown framed glasses and continued to read.

Little did she know though, Naruto was going out of his way to make sure that she felt accommodated in Konoha. The blond hero was in the Hokage tower having a grand debate with Tsunade to allow Karin some…privileges.

"Baa-chan." Naruto said once again. "If we're going to help me train and tame the Kyuubi, then don't you think having a sensor like Karin with me to make sure nothing wrong happens?"

"I would love to do that Naruto, but I can't just let a prisoner, protectorate of the Hero or not, waltz freely around the world!" Tsunade replied.

"But! Come on!" Naruto quickly replied. "The moment I leave her, who knows what's going to happen to her!"

"You think I haven't thought of that Naruto?" Tsunade reprimanded. "The only choice is to throw her in jail."

"No!" Naruto growled. "I made her a promise that I wouldn't let anything like that happen to her!"

"I know that, but you need to think of this from my perspective!" Tsunade pinched the bridge of her nose. "Let me give you a basic overview of her rap sheet."

"I already know it Baa-chan!" Naruto sighed in exasperation and sat up from his seat. "She told me already."

"Then you should know why I can't just let her leave and come with you!" Tsunade replied with a stern expression. "She could for all we know, could be a spy working for Orochimaru that purposely got herself captured!"

"But I know she isn't!" Naruto replied.

"…Naruto…" Tsunade's eyes were wide. "Are you…falling for her?"

"W-What?! D-Don't be absurd baa-chan!" Naruto replied with a small tint of a blush forming on his cheeks. "S-She's just a friend!"

"Whatever you say Naruto…" Tsunade laughed. "But getting back to our argument; I can't allow Karin to leave the village just because you say that you trust her. She's not even a shinobi aligned to any village-"

"Then make her a shinobi of this one!" Naruto blurted without thinking.

"…You want to run that by me again?" Tsunade asked with a raised eyebrow. 'Goad him into it.'

"I-I was s-saying, make her a shinobi of this village!" Naruto replied with a little less than adequate confidence. "She's a good medic, hell a damn good one, and she's literally one of the best sensors I've ever met! She could tell if someone's lying just by reading their chakra! Those are skills that I've got to say that are priceless!"

"You drive a hard bargain Naruto, but you still haven't convinced me." Tsunade smirked. 'Just a little more.'

"Then put her in a new team of genin that are trying to become chunin! Hell, you could even put me in that team!" Naruto stood from his seat and rested his knuckles on the desk with his head dropped low and his hair covering his eyes in shadow.

"Naruto. She isn't even a genin-"

"Tsunade-sama." The Hokage's eyes went wide, but Naruto went ahead and chose to continue. "I will never call you that ever in your life, but I am now, just to show you the gravity of this situation."

"I'm listening Naruto." Tsunade motioned for the blond to continue.

"I'm not as dumb as most thought I am, well at least not anymore." Naruto whispered. "I know of the war, and don't act so surprised either. I talked to the Great Toad Sage, and remember, he's all seeing and all knowing. I need to control the Kyuubi so we can strike a defining blow against the Akatsuki on the battlefields. With me there in control of the Kyuubi's power, we'd be unbeatable and there wouldn't be any senseless casualties."

"Well Naruto…you're only a genin. No one will listen to you, even if you have the power and the skills-"

"Then let me and Karin go to the chunin exams coming up soon in Sunagakure." Naruto replied without a stutter in his words. "We have the skills we have the abilities. Let Karin get into the shinobi corps, I'll vouch for her! I'll do all I have to do to keep her safe!"

"Why?" Tsunade asked.

"I don't know." Naruto sat back down. "There's something about her…I think that she's a main part of this prophecy that the Great Toad Sage was talking about…she's important, or else the Great Toad Sage would have told her to leave. It's happened before y'know."

"So you're saying…" Tsunade stopped to think back to the beginning of the conversation when he ran the prophecy by her the first time. "Karin…could be the mother of the red-haired clan or the red-eyed clan?"

"Not really. I'm just saying that Karin is important to it all." Naruto replied. "The first step to all of the strife is by doing something that could change the course of the entire prophecy, and I intend to do this as the first step. Karin is strong Baa-chan, she just needs the right push to bring it out; I saw her potential first hand when she sparred with Sakura."

"Alright Naruto, you've convinced me." Tsunade threw her hands up in defeat and sighed. "You've won me over."

"R-Really?" Naruto looked up with a hopeful expression. "You sure gave up pretty soon-"

"Nah. I was just enjoying our argument." Tsunade gave him a small smile. Naruto face faulted but straightened up and rubbed the back of his head. "Now get the hell out of here Gaki. I have some blasted paperwork to do."

"You got it Baa-chan!"

_Outside…_

Naruto walked down the street with a smile beaming off of his face. After spending the last few weeks in the company of the irate redhead known as Karin, Naruto couldn't help but feel his heart flutter while being in her presence. Maybe the old hag was right. So what if he did have feelings for Karin? It's not like it mattered anyway. At least that's what Naruto told himself.

After the nights when Karin would have those vivid nightmares of hers and he'd have to calm her down using his chakra, the blond felt inclined to keep her happy and keep her safe. Besides, she was living with him for crying out loud. But the last nightmare she had was of Sasuke and what he had done to her. Her screams and her gasps for air were embedded into his mind. The genuine fear and pain being released from her voice was palpable.

When Naruto woke the redhead from her slumber, her once crimson eyes were pale in comparison to what they normally were. The memory of her pain was a sore spot in his mind. Her tears spilled onto his clothing and her cries were deafening. But the real problem though, was making sure that her glasses stayed safe and unblemished. Without them, Karin was as good as blind. Knowing first hand of how bad it was Karin reacted; Naruto never again wanted her to experience that fear.

He shook his head of those depressing thoughts and began to sift through his memories for more appropriate images. Especially that one time when he and Karin went for a walk in one of the newly formed parks. The green grass waving softly and tickling their arms and legs, and the soft winds blowing through their hair…Naruto smiled at the serine image but shook it off, knowing that if he continued on those thoughts, he might bump into someone.

"Where could she be…?" Naruto thought to himself. "Hm…she is a medical person so…the hospital is a good place to check!"

_At the hospital…_

"Thank you for your time Karin-san. I hope we'll see you again." The nurse bowed to the redhead with a smile spread on her face.

"Thank you too." Karin replied with a curt bow and walked out through the glass doors only to smash face first with Naruto.

"H-Holy shit!" Karin screamed out.

Naruto looked up to see Karin with eyes as wide as plates and her glasses just a few feet away on the sidewalk. Karin frantically felt around the sidewalk looking for her glasses, but with no luck. The blond saw this and held her still just before she began to hyperventilate. Naruto reached over and grabbed the glasses from off the ground and slowly slid them onto her face.

Once the glasses were slipped on, Karin's world became clear and filled her irides with the most beautiful scene she's ever laid eyes upon. Naruto was sitting in a golden light, with clouds floating above them and the sun glimmering on his tanned skin. His hair waved over his hitai-ate less forehead and flittered over his right eye from the wind blowing through their faces. A bright, face-splitting smile was spread on his face.

Karin couldn't help but feel a blush forming on her cheeks but quickly pushed the blond away in an attempt to keep her dignity. Naruto was confused but stood up and pulled Karin to her feet. The redhead quickly ran a hand through her unkempt half of hair and made a failed attempt to comb it straight. The two coughed awkwardly and looked away from each other only to make a powerful link of eye contact.

"S-So…" Karin drawled. "What are you doing here…?"

"Looking for you of course!" Naruto smiled once more and put his hands behind his head. "I've convinced the Hokage to make you a genin of Konohagakure no Sato!"

Karin's eyes went wide. She was frozen in place with her mind flying and spinning in all directions without much thought in her red head. Her brain was painfully fried with little cognitive ability. Her head tilted slightly with her mouth parting slowly only to close like a gaping fish, almost as if the information had stolen her ability of speech.

"What?"

* * *

**What did y'all think of their somewhat growing relationship? Too fast? :/ I think I made it a bit too fast, but I guess it could work out?**

**Anyway! Next chapter they get some training in and Karin gets a new makeover!**

**Ja ne!**

**gottahavekyuubi**


	3. Training and Surprises

**Welcome to the third chapter! **

**I have to say, this is literally my most successful fanfic so far. It's making me all giddy and excited to check my email every single day! Thank you all for being so awesome!**

**To vashman7: Don't you worry! It's coming soon. Maybe way later but it's coming.**

**To Paul Perkins and ChilledKitsune: Naruto will find out soon enough, this chapter to be exact, and yes. She meant literally. You'll get a little insight to it in this chapter .**

** So a quick message to my regular readers and new ones, for those who already read my other fics know of my brutality and apparent need for dark scenes and situations, this fanfic is no different, although it won't be on the same level as Search for Greatness and DEFINITELY NOT ON THE SAME LEVEL AS KOGANE NO OJI! lmao But the dark scenes will mostly end up being nightmares for Karin. So for those with weak stomachs and weak mental states, don't you worry! (And don't read Search for Greatness and Kogane no oji...)**

** Anyway!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything! T^T**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Training and Surprises**

"What?"

"You're going to get processed into the shinobi corps!" Naruto smiled. "It was thanks to me that you are able to walk around the village without the need to have me watch your back from those in the village that want you gone!"

"I…Uhm…thanks…" Karin gave Naruto a nervous smile. "But…I kinda wanted to get away from the shinobi life y'know…"

"Oh…" Naruto felt his heart crack for just a moment. "I…I see."

Karin's eyes went wide for a moment when she felt the sudden change in emotion. His chakra seemed dark, almost as if it was…depressed; heartbroken. Karin looked back at Naruto and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and gave the poor boy a smile. Naruto saw the look in her eyes; they were genuine with her actions. Karin didn't mean to hurt the boy's feelings, but she just needed Naruto to know that she didn't feel it.

"N-Naruto…" Karin sighed. "Alright, here's what I'll do. You go off and train and I'll have to think this whole ordeal over alright?"

"You sure?" Naruto asked. "You'll think of it?"

"Of course." Karin gave him a warm smile before sliding her hand off of his shoulder and walking off. "I'll see you at home."

Naruto watched her walk off down the road and towards their home. Their home. Naruto smiled and looked off towards the sun. He liked the sound of that. To finally come home to someone, even though that someone was just a friend. Just a friend huh? Naruto laughed softly and looked off towards Karin's fleeting silhouette. Her bright red hair blowing in the wind as she took each step, with each descending move, her hair jumped just a few millimeters. The girl though suddenly stopped sensing Naruto's emotion and turned just enough so that her eyes could be seen staring back at him.

Blue locked with crimson. Blushes began to creep on their faces as they continued to stare at one another, but Karin was the first to break and started to hurry off down the street as she sunk into her collar to hide her deep blush. Naruto though stood enchanted in the center of the street for the entire world to see. His extra strap of his hitai-ate blowing wildly in the powerful gust of wind. He let out a soft sigh and turned around to head for the nearest training ground.

People nodded to him and greeted the hero and even gave him free foods and shinobi supplies as he walked down the main strip of Konoha. Slowly, Naruto was getting used to the kindness in their actions; the kindness in their smiles. Naruto now, began to smile back and wave towards those who went out of their way to let him know that he was no longer hated. Naruto stood straight and slid his hands into his pockets with little care and continued on his quiet journey to the training ground.

Karin though was having a more difficult situation. She was still red faced with a heavy blush still adorning her cheeks. Her red eyes darting from here to there, looking for something to take her mind off of what she felt from Naruto's chakra. It was powerful, stronger than anything before. It felt protective and…caring. It felt like…love. Attraction. Karin didn't want to accept it and quickly pushed it away. To her, it was too damn early for that. Even though they've been living together for nearly a month, neither of them should be having those feelings.

Karin stopped in the middle of the street and turned to her right only to see a reflection of her. Karin raised a hand and ran it through her red locks only to sigh in disgust. Her eyes trailed away and towards the corners of the mirror and up towards her actual body. Though not as curvy as someone like Hinata or Ino, but still curvier than Sakura, Karin couldn't help but say that she looked good physically, but it was her personality that she was afraid of.

'What if he gets to know the real me…' Karin continued to stare at herself, while unknowingly caressing the unkempt side of her red hair. 'What if he tosses me aside once he knows the true me?'

'**HELL NO HE WON'T!**'Karin could have sworn that her reflection just shouted that to her. '**You felt his chakra! He is sincere, unlike that Uchiha bastard!**'

'…But before everything went to shit…Sasuke's chakra felt the same way.' Karin thought to herself. 'Kami…why the hell was I so fucking stupid.'

'**You were being naïve! Every girl our age is like this!**' Reflection Karin replied. '**Just sleep it off!**'

'You know what…I'm sleepy.' Karin stretched and continued on her journey towards her new home.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Naruto stood in front of a small grave site that he put together himself, with three kunai embedded in the ground in a triangle formation. In the center of the triangle was a gravestone with a bouquet of flowers made from paper, a small green book and a picture. The picture itself was the most important of the three objects. In it was a picture of Jiraiya sitting down with Naruto fast asleep on Jiraiya's back. The blond haired boy smiled softly at the image and the memories that came with it.

He stood from his bent knees and bowed his head to the gravesite and tightened his hitai-ate. Naruto threw up the cross hand seal and poof, two clones popped into existence. The two of them stared at Naruto, immediately getting the message. The two clones dropped down in cross-legged positions and began to meditate. Their job was to work on gathering senjutsu chakra as quickly as possible.

The real Naruto channeled senjutsu chakra into his body as quickly as possible. Once he was finished, the eyes of the toad sage were upon him. Orange eye shadow grew with the eyes of toads taking place instead of his regular cerulean orbs. Naruto channeled some chakra and sent out a strange signal towards the rest of the forest in an attempt to rouse any bloodthirsty animals. Knowing full well that fighting another human was terrible and killing an animal was no different, he needed to get attacked first.

But, suddenly, the ground began to shake as a great beast began to tear through the forest, ripping trees from their roots and the ground itself. In front of Naruto was a great gorilla, not native to Hi no Kuni, or anywhere that he knew of at least. The gorilla launched its fist down, launching up a great hailstorm of boulders and rocks, much like how Karin does. Naruto weaved in between each boulder as it descended and charged forward for the beast itself.

Naruto looked around with his sensory ability and found that his two clones were in danger and needed to be protected. Naruto turned his attention back to the gorilla and formed an Oodama Rasengan just before he rammed the ball of volatile chakra into the gorilla's face, knocking it back. Naruto slowly floated down to a tree branch below and stared off at the massive creature he was facing. The gorilla sat back up and glared at the blond standing proudly from the top of his tree.

'This training got more serious I guess.' Naruto thought to himself. 'Yo. Kyuubi. Think you can lend me some of that oh so coveted charka of yours?'

"**Don't sass my power runt.**" Kyuubi replied with a growl. "**Just be lucky that I don't like losing. Now get lost and beat that stupid primate.**"

'Yeah, yeah, yeah.' Naruto shut his eyes for just a moment, but once he opened them, his eyes came to reveal the toad sage mode eyes, but with a black slit going down the center vertically. The orange eye shadow that formed turned into a blood red color. The gorilla felt his sudden increase in power and began to surge its own chakra, blowing away a few trees in the process.

"This gorilla wields its chakra as well, but isn't smart enough to use ninjutsu…" Naruto thought to himself.

Suddenly, the beast swung its hand down at unbelievable speeds, annihilating the tree that Naruto once stood on. Naruto though, was able to dodge the attack and landed on the back of the gorilla's furry hand. The boy narrowed his eyes at the malicious look that the gorilla was sporting, but they quickly sprang open. Naruto jumped off of the gorilla's hand as he had sensed something big coming from the gorilla. It was powerful, hot and extremely dangerous.

The beast bent back as a great surge of chakra was felt building up in the gorilla's belly, just before a great gust of hot wind came from the massive primate. The gorilla's belly began to glow a dangerous orange color, just before the gorilla belched out a fireball the size of the Fire Country. Naruto's eyes grew wide at the sight, but he didn't show any fear. If anything, he welcomed this new and somehow powerful looking beast.

The massive ball of fire came closer and closer; incinerating everything it flew by, and turned trees into instant ash, surprising Naruto of its actual power. The sage shut his eyes and channeled as much senjutsu as he could, knowing full well that if he failed, it was over for him. Naruto applauded himself, knowing that the best way for him to perfect his skills was under pressure. He channeled the senjutsu chakra into a massive and invisible blade. Molding and folding, carving and building; Naruto forced as much as he could into the blade. Since his chakra control was shit, he was struggling harder than what he should be.

Looking back at his clones, the two of them had finally finished gather enough senjutsu chakra to last at least ten minutes each. He smiled softly and formed two shadow clones, both imbued with senjutsu and the three Naruto's began to mold the chakra into the great blade that the original required. Just as the fireball got within range, Naruto swung the great invisible blade down, and split the great ball of fire in half, and dissipated the attack altogether.

The gorilla growled and screeched at Naruto, signifying its terrifying charge. Naruto shut his eyes as his two clones charged forward with Oodama rasengan formed in their hands. The two clones jumped up and rammed the attacks into the gorilla, blowing it back a few feet, leaving it open for a third attack. Once the smoke and chakra residue subsided, a rasenshuriken came zooming in at amazing speeds.

The attack rammed the beast in its chest, blowing it high into the sky, before the attack itself, expanded in proportion to the amount of chakra the beast had. When Naruto looked up towards the beast, all he could see was a gigantic spear of spiraling charka, shooting wind and blades of energy in all directions. It was such a powerful attack, that even the clouds were contorting to the energy being released from his attack.

Once the charka cleared, the gorilla began to fall back to the ground below, unconscious and unknowing of its own fate in the fight. Naruto dashed forward with his two clones at his side as they channeled chakra to their legs to make them go faster. Once they got underneath the gorilla's shadow, the three began to channel as much senjutsu chakra as they could to their arms and legs and bodies, to empower themselves so they could catch the blasted creature thing, so the beast wouldn't die.

Karin finally plopped down onto the bed of her home. She was too tired to take her pesky glasses off of her face so she just laid on her back, allowing her body to rest. But something was bothering her. She rolled up her sleeves and traced her fingers on all of the tooth marks and bite scars that Sasuke left on her body. She raised her arm and examined the different patterns and random placements. It never ceased to surprise her that Naruto hadn't found out about her abilities yet, or her scars.

There were some that she didn't feel that she could explain. Some scars on some places that were meant for the eyes of her lover. She shut her eyes and growled fiercely and pushed herself further up the bed and rested her head onto the soft and comfortable pillows at the head of the bed. She crossed her bare arms over her chest and let her mind drift.

The sudden smell of fire filled her nose. It was powerful; overbearing. She shot her eyes open to a sight that sent shivers down her back. The entire village was ablaze. Standing in the center of the fire was Uchiha Sasuke, drenched in the blood of his former comrades. His sharingan blaring for all who dared to stand up against him. He glared at Karin and but then, the glare disappeared and was replaced with a horrific smile.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Naruto had successfully delivered a pounding on the gorilla and managed to beat it back into the forest. He left his two clones to train in gathering senjutsu chakra faster as he headed into the village. He had his hands behind his head with a calm look on his face, but with sweat pouring off of his cheeks. He looked down at his clothes and felt the need to gag at the horrific smell they had.

"You know what. I'm going to go home and change first." Naruto frowned but shrugged.

He jumped up into the air and landed on one of the rooftops and bounded towards his wooden condo, with a big smile spread across his face. He landed at the front steps and was quickly greeted by the valet's and the bellmen and was led into the building. Naruto nodded and gave the two a generous tip and hurried off to his room. It was a quick run up the stairs, all thirty flights, and Naruto reached his penthouse level and swung the door open to reveal nothing out of the ordinary, almost as if Karin came and went straight to sleep.

The blond shinobi tiptoed towards his room and peeked into the bedroom and smiled softly at the sight. Karin was fast asleep, and even had a small snore. He opened the door fully this time and slowly slid into the room completely silent, using the skills he used to sneak around bullies during the night as a child. He pulled his dresser open and drew out some casual kakis and a black dress shirt. He backed out of the room and clicked the door shut as quietly as he could and changed in the living room of his condo.

After checking himself out in his mirror, he made a soft click at himself and headed straight out of the door and back down the thirty flights of stairs and back onto the streets of Konoha. He looked up to the sky and found that the sun was going down and the nighttime scene was soon upon the village. He smiled and trudged off through the streets as he admired everyone and everything he came across. The more he enjoyed everything, the less hatred and burden he felt. With each step, he thought of his role in the coming role, and with each passing smile and compliment, he felt the inhibitions wash away.

He looked up once more once he noticed that one of the street lights flickered on. The sky was bathed in a beautiful maroon hue mixed with a slight crimson, almost the same color as Karin's eyes. He couldn't help but feel his lips curl at the thought of his roommate and protectorate. He slid his hands into his pocket and walked off to nowhere in particular, but just as the night scene of Konoha kicked in, the Hero of Konoha was stopped all of a sudden by the blonde bombshell of Konoha; Yamanaka Ino.

"Naruto!" Ino called from behind the blond. "Where're you going to?"

Ino jogged up to Naruto with a slow, tentative pace, almost as if she were trying to seduce the Toad Sage. Naruto's eyes grew wide as blood shot to his nose. Ino was wearing a beautiful, but thin shirt with no discernible bra underneath to hold back the bouncing nature of her breasts. A blush as bright as the moon above them grew on Naruto's face the longer he kept his eyes glued onto the blonde bombshell making her way to him.

"N-Nowhere, j-just looking for some pussy-PLACE! Place to eat!" Naruto's face flushed deeply. Ino seemed to not have caught the slip.

"Really?" Ino smiled softly and locked her arm with his. "Let's go somewhere! I'm off from work, and Sakura has to work extra at the hospital you know."

"I'd love that!" Naruto smiled. "So where do you want to go to?"

"Hmm…Ichiraku Ramen?" Ino asked with a sly smile. "How does that sound?"

"Doesn't seem like a very Ino-thing of you to offer up…" Naruto said with a narrowed eye.

"Does that really matter?" Ino asked with a smile. "It's ramen."

"Well that does sound really nice…" Naruto broke into a faux thinking pose. "I suppose we could get ramen."

"Well stop supposing because that's exactly where we're going!" Ino smirked and began to walk at the same pace as Naruto.

Naruto though, not one to really check out a woman's assets, had to say, in all honesty, Ino was downright, one of the sexiest girls he'd ever met. That long blonde hair and her sky blue eyes kept his eyes hooked, but he couldn't forget that body that Ino was blessed with. Her curves were definitely better than Karin, and Ino seemed to have an even better athletic build. Then again, Karin has lived underground for much of her life doing experiments for the pedophile.

Naruto looked into his memories and wondered why he was so attracted to Sakura for all these years, when here, Ino, was definitely all over him. During their calm walk, Naruto began to think of Ino's skills compared to Sakura, hell even Karin as well. After a good few moments, he quickly realized that Ino, so far, is the most useful of the three. She had an arsenal of powerful mind techniques, and was also, the most beautiful of the three.

Though Naruto would probably never say that to her or anyone but himself, the boy couldn't help but think she was the most beautiful girl he'd met, despite her flaws as being one of the loudest, meanest and rudest women he'd ever met. If only she could change her personality just a tad bit, Naruto felt that he'd find her attractive. Naruto's eyes suddenly started to trail down from Ino's bangs and down to her collar bone.

"…right Naruto?" Ino asked.

'Oh shit! I wasn't listening to her!' Naruto's eyes grew wide for a quick moment, but he quickly straightened up and let out a meek "Of course!"

"Seriously right!" Ino began to laugh. "I knew that you would be the perfect person to rant to!"

'Oh shit…nice save there Naruto.' The blond shinobi sighed in relief. 'You know what…I think I should start learning how to read people's lips.'

Ino went off on another rant about assholes at her work and bitchy people at the hospital. Though her style of ranting and complaining had a vague resemblance to Karin and Kushina's ranting, Naruto found it boring. She complained about this and that, but at least her voice wasn't as loud as it normally was, or else it would have gone from boring to annoying.

They made it to Ichiraku and got themselves a nice booth and ordered their normal amounts of ramen, with Naruto having about twenty bowls and Ino having about two and a half. They ate enjoying each other's presence and had very little care in each other's eating styles. Naruto chose a more…manly way of eating and started slurping his noodles in every direction while Ino…she ate like a starved pig, with ramen broth shooting in all directions.

People eating around them gave the two blonds of Konoha estranged looks and some even left because of their commotion. But neither blond gave half of a rip. They were enjoying their time together. Once Naruto finished his bowl he slammed it down, pretty much at the same time Ino had finished hers. Naruto and Ino looked around awkwardly and found that everyone was staring at them.

Ino and Naruto's faces grew hot and red from embarrassment and the two turned to each other. Within moments, the two burst into some heavy laughter. Their laughter was contagious though. One by one, the people of the restaurant began to laugh with the two blonds. But it died down by the time the two blonds were on their way down the street.

It was a surprisingly cool night, compared to the normal temperature that summer nights would be in the Land of Fire. Naruto and Ino were close together and stayed in a comfortable silence reigning between them. The different stores were bright and opened for the various people still walking around at this time of night.

Looking up, Naruto found that the sky was clear and the stars of the nighttime sky were twinkling brighter than what he'd ever seen before. The bright crescent moon high into the sky, shining down onto the village with what little light it gave. Naruto looked back down to the blond he had in his arms. Ino had her head leaned into his arm as they walked. Upon her face was a great smile spread across her face. Her white teeth glinting with each light they passed by.

"Hey…wanna see something?" Naruto suddenly asked.

"Sure…what is it?" Ino asked, but before she could continue, she was swept off of her feet and the two blonds took off through the rooftops of Konoha.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Karin was surrounded by grass; lots of grass. It almost reminded her of her homeland. The soft blades tickling her smooth skin with each breeze that flittered by. Karin shut her crimson eyes and stared off into the bright, beautifully cloudy blue sky and smiled at the warmth coming down from the sun. Its rays pounding through the cool breeze, warming her.

She smiled even brighter when she sensed the amount of peace radiating off of Naruto from wherever he was. It was making her dream even more heavenly than what it would normally be. His happiness made her dreams what they were. His happiness soon started to take shape and Naruto began to form in her world. He was wearing a grey t-shirt with black jeans and some sandals.

Naruto plopped down onto the grass below with a basket in his hands. The boy smiled softly with the same foxy grin that Karin had begun to love and began to remove the contents of the basket. Naruto motioned for Karin to move. Once she did, the blond threw out a large blanket and started placing food onto the blanket; Rice, chicken, turkey, pork! It was beautiful to Karin, but Naruto of course didn't stop there; He drew out a small wreath of violets and slowly slid them onto her head.

'Damn…Naruto must be really happy!' Karin thought to herself.

Never had something like this happened before. Sure Naruto's chakra was peaceful and loving but never had it been like this. Karin's heart beat faster as the dream continued and Naruto began to do things that Karin had always wished her dream man would do. Naruto reached out and gently caressed her cheek, feeling the burning hot blush forming on her face.

Karin shook nervously with her mouth agape and shakingly, pushed her glasses back up. Her breath hitched when Naruto tilted his head, allowing his hair to feel the full force of the incoming breeze. A sudden burst of peace shot from an outside source, most likely Naruto, and the scene began to grow warmer and it made Karin's heart beat heavily.

Naruto suddenly grabbed Ino and crashed his lips upon hers. His hands were holding her arms keeping her close to him to make sure that the redhead doesn't break away too early. The kiss was a simple one, even though both have had many kisses before, this one to Karin felt…special. Maybe it was the overflow of happiness from her idiot roommate? Or maybe this dream was just a parallel to what she truly wants from the blond?

But, the sky suddenly darkened. The grass began to wilt and the trees around them burst into flames. Thunder boomed in the cloudy sky, but no rain fell. From the flaming forest came a spikey haired boy with red eyes. Karin's own crimson eyes sprang open with fear, but Naruto shot to his feet and got ready to defend the girl.

"Naruto…" Sasuke said. "What are you doing with my cum dumpster?"

"She's no longer yours to toy with bastard." Naruto growled viciously.

"Defending a whore?" Sasuke burst into laughter as he unsheathed his sword. "That's new. What happened to the oh so wonderful Sakura-chan?"

"Nothing happened. Why do you think I'm with Karin?" Naruto simply replied. The blond drew out a kunai and hunched over in a battle stance.

"Kami Naruto…" Sasuke laughed just a bit more and stretched his sword wielding arm. "She's a useless whore…I'm surprised that she hasn't left you yet to sleep with the rest of the shinobi corps."

"Screw you Sasuke!" Karin screamed. "I'm not like that!"

"Oh really?" Sasuke smiled devilishly. "Would you mind if I went ahead and told the dobe of our teams fuck nights?"

"Don't you dare!?" Karin screamed as tears formed in her eyes.

"What the hell are you going to do Karin?" Sasuke asked with a smirk. "Suck me to death?"

"Leave me alone Sasuke!" Karin fell down and gripped her head. But her fingers felt the soft flower petals wrapped around her head. "I am no longer yours to mess with!"

"Yeah Sasuke!" Naruto shouted. "Leave her alone. She is not a part of our battle. Leave her out of this."

"Oh but dobe…she is a part of this fight…" Sasuke smiled and activated his Mangekyō sharingan. "Anything you will come to love are already love; is automatically included in this…the first thing I'm doing after I kill you…I think I'm going to rebuild my clan starting with the redheaded masturbation sheath that you just so happen to be defending."

"I will kill you if you touch her!" Naruto roared.

The Kyuubi's chakra began to pulse out of his body, sending frozen shivers down Karin's back. She saw it. It flashed in front of her; it was glaring at her, studying her. Those horrific red eyes. The spiritual soldier of Sasuke's Susano'o grew and formed around the Uchiha and swung for the blond jinchuriki. Naruto saw this and sped forward with red chakra exploding off of his body.

Naruto jumped forward and slammed a rasengan into the Susano'o, but the spiritual soldier didn't budge and withstood the attack, and slapped Naruto away and into the dirt. Sasuke burst into laughter and lunged forward and stabbed his Susano'o blade into Naruto's chest. The boy's scream reverberated in Karin's ears.

"Karin! Run!" The blond managed to croak out.

The redhead began to run. Her sandals crunched the blackened grass and scorched ground. Tears were running down her cheeks. She looked behind to see Sasuke walking with the same facial expression he had when he fought Danzo. But from her distraction of looking back, she didn't notice the other two newcomers walking in front of her.

Once she turned back around to face forward, she ran into a large man with orange hair and a skinnier and shorter man with straight white hair and shark-like teeth. Karin recognized them immediately and began to back away. Seeing that Sasuke was still a long ways away, she chose to make a run for it towards the east or wherever running to the right led to, just as long as it got her away from them.

But before her she could actually start running, Juugo shot forward with his arm sand wrapped them around the horrified redhead. Karin kicked and swung her arms around, causing her glasses to fly right off her face. Everything lost color and everything bled into one, causing her vision to turn blurry, almost as if she were blind. Juugo slammed her into the ground while Suigetsu began to work on getting rid of her pants and shirt. She was about to fight back, but Juugo punched her in her gut, forcing a large blob of blood from her mouth and back onto her face.

Karin flipped over and tried to crawl away, but Suigetsu grabbed her legs and forced them apart to reveal the clean shaven and overly used vagina of Karin's. Sasuke laughed viciously and pushed Suigetsu away.

"I like that you kept your pussy shaved." Sasuke sneered. "I wonder what Naruto thought of how wide-spread you are…"

"D-Damn you Sasuke!" Karin shouted. "What he thought of my body is not of your concern!"

"Awe…was he not impressed?" Suigetsu burst into laughter.

"That's not what he thought!" Karin cried. "He doesn't think of me as a whore! He's not like you!"

"Well of course he isn't like me." Sasuke unzipped his pants. "I'm not dead."

But just before he could enter, everything turned black. Karin felt around and realized that she was no longer in the grassy plain that she once was, but instead she was on a cold and hard floor. She reached over looking for her glasses, but she couldn't find them. She was terrified and she was missing her jacket. She could feel the wind slipping against the bare bite-marks drawn up and down her arms and across her chest.

But the thing that really terrified her was that she couldn't sense anything. She was literally blind to the world outside. She began to crawl around with tears falling down her face. Within moments she just stopped and began to hyperventilate, hoping that somehow Naruto would find her in time.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

"I had fun…" Ino smiled softly as she slowly leaned her head onto Naruto's shoulder. "I had a lot of fun Naruto-kun…"

"Heh. I did too Ino-chan." Naruto leaned back and smiled softly at the twinkling stars in the sky. "Ready to go home?"

"Definitely…" Ino smiled and was pulled up to her feet by Naruto. "We should do this again."

"I look forward to-"

Naruto's eyes suddenly changed into his sage mode. People's chakra signatures and emotions flooded his mind and system. But there was one that made his heart crumble; Karin was terrified of something and her chakra seemed to be in distress. The boy took off without another word and jumped off of the Hokage Monument and down towards the rooftop of the Hokage tower. He jumped as far as he could and landed just a few blocks away from his home and continued on his path until he landed on the balcony of his floor.

He could sense it; Karin's fear. Karin's pain was palpable and filled the hallway with despair. Naruto dashed down the hallway, nearly knocking over a few bellboys and servants, but he came to a quick stop once he reached his room which was the single door at the end of the hall. He kicked the door open only to find that all of the lights were flicked off and the furniture, from what he could see, was overturned almost as if someone had broken in.

He stepped in, but a small crunch was heard.

He looked down and found Karin's glasses beneath his foot, shattered beyond belief and with one of the arms of the glasses broken off revealing a two inch long serrated blade. Naruto's ears suddenly perked up when he heard sniffling through the darkness of the room. There were footsteps that sounded from behind and apparently Ino had followed Naruto.

She quickly reached in and flicked the lights on to reveal a jacketless Karin curled up in a fetal position with tears pouring from her eyes. Her eyes though, were filled with so much fear and pain that Naruto had trouble looking at Karin. Naruto turned and nodded at Ino with the blonde girl quickly getting the message and charging ahead and grabbing Karin's coat off the floor and wrapping it around the redhead.

Once Karin was clothed once more, Naruto bent down and hoisted her up in a bridal style and held her close to him. Karin slid her hand onto Naruto's chest and felt for his heart. The girl was mumbling incoherently and seemed to be in a daze, but Naruto's amazing chakra began to fix all of Karin's problems. Karin's breath began to slow down and soon enough it was a manageable pace, but she kept her hand pressed against Naruto's chest. Soon enough she was holding his shirt with a death grip, not wanting him to let her go.

"Ino can you heal her up a bit?" Naruto asked as he walked over to his bedroom. "She needs it."

Naruto bent over and lad Karin out onto the bed and carefully spread her legs out and straightened them out on top of the blankets. But just as Naruto was about to leave, Karin reached out and grabbed his hand and pulled Naruto towards her and gripped him tighter than before. Naruto looked down to see the unbelievable pain in her eyes.

"Please…don't leave me!" Karin shouted as she buried her head into his arm. "Just…for tonight…stay with me once more…"

Naruto sighed softly then looked to see Ino with a gaping smile spread across her face. Naruto nodded and was replied with a pat on the shoulder by Ino. The platinum blonde left the room and slowly shut the door, leaving Naruto with the weeping Karin.

"Don't you worry Karin…?" Naruto smiled and slid her over to accommodate some space for himself. "I made a promise to you…I promised that you'd never feel hurt again…"

Once he was comfortable, Karin turned over and rested her hand onto his chest and immediately went back to sleep. Naruto soon enough, was starting to get claimed by the wonderful spell that was known as sleep. Karin rested her forehead onto his shoulder as she fell deeper into sleep and Naruto rested his chin onto her scalp. Within a few minutes, the two of them were snoring like a loving couple enjoying a blissful sleep.

At least that's what it looked like to Ino.

* * *

**W00T! I finished this chapter just in time! So what did you think about Karin's nightmare? Did it give you a good picture of what she was used for during her travels with team Taka or Hebi or whatever? Whatever lol I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

**Ja ne!**

**gottahavekyuubi**


	4. Intermission

**Ok so here's the next chapter (Sorry if it isn't as good as you'd hoped)!  
**

** A little authors note though: For those who are new fans of me, need to know this; I am a one hundred percent NaruIno fan. like for real, that's my OTP to the max, so of course I'm going to have some NaruIno in here it's a must. For those who don't like the pairing, it's alright. It's totally fine, i just want you to know from the bottom of my heart, as a hardcore NaruIno fan, I don't give a shit. ._. but yeah...another thing about me is that, I don't like making a fanfiction where Naruto is with one girl straight through the whole thing, so yes. Naruto will be with Ino, but He will end up with Karin in the end...as the cover picture spoils.**

**Yeah...and this chapter is total shit. I struggled to get anything out for these past few weeks...writing romantic fluff is hard! The _romantic_ parts aren't even romantic! at least to me...D:**

** I promise to you, by the Old Gods and the New, on my Honor as a Tully and on my Honor as a Stark; I won't make this a Harem. I've had too much trouble with it in Search for Greatness.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto...or that Game of Thrones reference :(**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Intermission**

Karin awoke to the smell of sizzling meat and cooking rice. With the events of the night before completely erased from her memory, she reached over expecting to find her glasses. She clicked open her glasses only to find cracks in the lens and duct tape being used to hold one of the arms to the rest of the glasses body. She looked around nervously and looked for the warmth that filled her dreams, but it was nowhere, until, suddenly, her senses were exploded with the wondrousness of Naruto's chakra.

Her mind calmed. She rubbed her bare arms…wait, bare? Karin looked down in distress when she realized that her arms were naked for the entire world to see. She looked at the bite marks and felt tears forming in her eyes, but she realized that it was too damn early for tears and crying. She shook her head and slid herself from the bed and trudged out of the room and to wherever the smell was coming from.

But what she saw made her heart hurt slightly. It was Ino and Naruto cooking in the kitchen together with big smiles on their faces. Karin felt his happiness and realized that he was genuine, but Karin was wary of the Yamanaka.

Even though Karin and Ino had become somewhat good friends, Karin didn't feel comfortable with Ino being with Naruto. But after doing a scan of Ino's chakra, Karin felt satisfied and realized that Ino was sincere with her emotions towards Naruto. The two were giggling like idiots and insulting each other's cooking skills, that is, until Karin made herself known to the two laughing blonds.

"Morning you two." Karin said.

"Oh hey!" Naruto smiled and walked over to Karin and grabbed her for a tight hug. "You feel better?"

"Never better I guess." Karin replied meekly. "Can you two tell me what the hell happened to my glasses?"

Naruto took a seat and motioned for Karin to do the same. The redhead was slightly confused but complied anyway. Naruto took a deep breath as did Ino.

"Well…what happened last night…" Naruto began.

"Naruto was out last night and I just happened to run into him." Ino suddenly said. "But, during a friendly dinner, Naruto went into sage mode and felt your pain and sorrow or something like that. When we came here, Naruto found you on the floor in a fetal position crying your eyes out. Naruto upon entering, consequently, stepped on your glasses, crushing them."

"O-Oh…" Karin's eyes were wide. "It must have been one hell of a nightmare then huh?"

"Yeah…" Naruto replied. "But there is something that Ino and I have been wondering."

"What is it?"

"Those bite-marks all over your arms and chest…" Ino said. "Where the hell did they come from?"

"I have a special healing ability that if an injured person were to bite into my skin and suck up my chakra, they'd heal from any injury." Karin sighed. "I wanted to keep it a secret…"

"So are those all from Sasuke-"

**"S-SHUT UP! THEY ARE NOT ALL FROM SASUKE!"** Karin roared in a Sakura-esque way.

"W-Whoa…calm down Karin…" Naruto rubbed his ears. "No need to get loud."

**"I'LL GET AS LOUD AS I WANT BAKA!"** Karin howled, just before she lodged her fist into the back of his head.

Under normal circumstances, Ino would have defended Naruto, but Ino couldn't help but find herself laughing softly at the sight. Ino though, quickly reined in those thoughts. The blonde girl rose from her seat and softly walked towards the kitchen stove and began to work on whatever food the two were originally working on.

'What is this feeling I'm sensing from Ino…' Karin pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. 'It's almost as if…she's jealous of me…'

'That damned redhead…' Ino tightened her grip on the pan. 'Whatever…'

'What is it with women hitting me all the time?!' Naruto whined. 'The people around me are so violent!'

With all three teenagers sunken in their own thoughts, they fell into comfortable silence, minus the squeaking noises coming from Naruto as he rubbed the large bruise that formed on his scalp. Karin smirked and dug into her food while keeping a wary eye on Ino. About an hour later, and the three teens finished their breakfast and Ino took off for work in her family's flower shop on the strip, leaving Naruto and Karin to themselves for the time being before Naruto takes off for training.

"Naruto." Karin suddenly said, breaking their silence as they watched T.V. "How do you feel about Ino?"

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"I mean…do you find her attractive?" Karin asked.

"W-What kind of question is that?" Naruto asked surprised.

'Does he not-'

"Of course I do!" Naruto laughed. "I know I'm stupid and thick skulled, but I'm not blind-"

"Stuff it Uzumaki." Karin huffed and stood from the couch they were sharing and headed to the bedroom.

"Wait! Karin!" Naruto turned to face Karin. "Where are you going-?"

"I'm going somewhere that you are not." Karin walked into the bedroom and slammed it shut leaving a deeply confused Naruto.

"What the fuck…?" Naruto shook his head and turned towards the door. "I'll never understand women. I guess I'll go and train."

_At the training ground…half an hour later…_

Naruto stood in the center of the training field with a face that oozed experience. The wind flapped through his blond locks of hair and calmed his raging mind and loosened his tensed chakra coils. He shut his eyes and took a deep breath and let the soothing wind flow throughout his body. Each tenketsu relaxed and his chakra flowed faster and smoother than before. Soon enough, nature chakra began to fill his large reserves and began to fill in the non-existent chakra reserves. Within moments, his eyes changed and he was now in the forever revered, Sage Mode.

He hunched over and a group of shadow clones popped into existence, each one imbued with senjutsu chakra. Without a single word being said, the three clones charged at him with rasengan blaring in their palms. Naruto with his eyes still shut, he weaved in between each speeding clone as each one got within perfect range of splitting him in two.

Naruto, eyes still closed, he jumped over one of his more dangerous clones and landed a kick on the bunshins head, popping it and leaving him with two more to go. Naruto stopped and opened his eyes to face the last two clones. He untied his hitai-ate and wrapped it around his vibrant blue eyes and tightened the strap as tight as he could.

"Come."

Without a second thought, the clones charged ahead with no care for their own safety and closed the distance, only for one to get kicked in the cheek by Naruto's more faster reflexes, but just as he'd disposed of one of the clones, the other came in and send a senjutsu imbued punch at his gut, and sent Naruto flying towards the trees.

He spun in the air and connected his feet with the grass below and slid along the surface of the ground for a good few minutes before he came to a halt. Naruto stared at his clone and realized that the Kyuubi had gotten some of its influence out and into the clone. Naruto sighed knowing that it was a side effect of letting the beast's cage have its key.

The clone dashed forward with a red rasengan formed in its palm, but Naruto dodged the attack and rammed his leg into the clone's chest, sending it back a few feet. Once the clone landed, it charged ahead once more and kicked Naruto in his chest, but the boy simply dodged the attack. Naruto sent an elbow, but the clone dodged it and punched Naruto in his gut. The blond sent an uppercut and rammed his fist into the clone's chin, sending it into the air.

Naruto channeled chakra into his legs and sprang up into the sky with a rasengan glowing with pride. Once he closed the distance with the clone, he rammed the rasengan into the clone's chest, sending it careening towards the grassy training ground below. With a earth shattering boom, the clone finally popped and it's memories were transferred back to Naruto. The boy flittered down and used a flurry of kage bunshin to soften his fall.

He looked around and found that he had successfully allowed the ability of having four shadow clones gather senjutsu charka. Naruto himself was still in Sage Mode which was a welcome surprise. As his clones dispelled, Naruto walked off towards the waterfall that his clones were meditating underneath and found that all four clones were hunched over with orange eye shadow formed. He smirked at his success. All he had to do now was work on a way to get senjutsu chakra while he was moving or while he was in combat without the use of clones, but that was filed away for later.

For his fight with the Uchiha, Naruto knew that he'd have to get all of his cards straightened out and all of his weaknesses flattened out. Sasuke no doubt had many different cards in play and many more hidden away. The blond jinchuriki didn't know whether or not he should continue with his senjutsu training or move on to actually trying to control the Kyuubi. Naruto sighed and shook his head and headed off towards the main strip of Konoha and found that people were already beginning their normal shopping sprees and schedules.

Naruto put his hands in his pockets and smiled when his telepathic command to two more clones went through. He had ordered two more clones join the others and begin to meditate and gather senjutsu chakra. Never hurts to be prepared y'know. Naruto continued on his destination-less path and walked aimlessly through the street whilst paying no attention to the people looking at him and the girls checking him out. Naruto though, not really into Sakura since his situation has been changing slightly; the blond realized that he hadn't seen the pinkette in a while.

Karin had held him up for most of those few weeks and now Naruto felt a strange feeling in his chest whenever he was with Ino. Naruto smiled softly. She was kind enough to even fix up his living room while he slept with Karin. There had to be a way to pay her back he thought. There had to be one right? Shaking the thoughts from his head, Naruto trudged down the street towards Ichiraku Ramen, but sadly, found that the line was too long. Surprising really.

Naruto spun on the heel of his foot and headed off towards another restaurant that he frequented whenever he was with team ten; Yakiniku Q. Good thing it was just a few blocks down. The blond hero shrugged and headed down the road without a single care to the smiles directed his way. For just a moment, Naruto thought of what would happen should the war begin any time soon. Naruto thought of the chaos that would ensue, he thought of the damage that would happen…and most of all, and the deaths that could possibly happen.

'No.' He told himself. 'No. I won't let my friends die. Never.'

'**It'll be pretty hard for that runt…**' the Kyuubi rumbled from within.

'Don't listen to him Naruto-kun.' Kushina suddenly said from beneath the terrifying bass of the Kyuubi's voice. 'He's just a little mad.'

A small smile grew on his lips. His mother was real and his mother apparently lived within his mindscape. Although that doesn't sound healthy, it was completely healthy. Naruto first met his mother by complete accident.

_Flashback…_

"I think it's my time to go…" Minato sighed softly. "Goodbye son...I'll have to hurry and fix this seal."

Minato, although a sealing master, he was still a human, err a spirit rather, and as such he makes mistakes. The seal looked perfectly normal and seemed fixed. Minato disappeared and the scene returned to the cage with the Kyuubi, but there was a little something else added in; a beautiful redheaded woman that looked a lot like a housewife.

The Kyuubi apparently wasn't very fond of her and constantly growled at the woman and barred his teeth at her, but the woman seemed to not have given two shits. She looked at the great fox and flicked him off, offending the bijuu even more. The Kyuubi shot his claws through the bars, which scared Naruto, but the redheaded woman simply yawned in response. She patted the claws softly and walked off towards the owner of the mindscape.

Naruto's jaw dropped when he saw the woman. She had violet-blue eyes and deep red hair that flowed down to her back. Her face looked vaguely familiar and her smile was foxy much like his and his fathers. She had a wondrous figure that under normal circumstances, have him drooling on the floor with a raging nosebleed, but this wasn't a normal circumstance. This woman was important to have appeared in his mindscape.

"Naruto-kun." Her voice was soft and reserved, but held a lot of cockiness that Naruto couldn't help but relate to.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked.

"I-I'm your mother of course!"

_ Flashback end…_

Naruto walked into the barbeque restaurant and ordered a table for one, but was quickly led into the restaurant and towards one of the more high classes booths that were reserved for more important people like foreign dignitaries and rich folk, but Naruto didn't mind in the slightest enjoying some of the more rewarding perks of being a hero of his home.

Almost immediately food was slapped onto his table, and it wasn't just any food, it was food that he would normally get, at another restaurant. It seems that they saw his misfortune of being sent to their restaurant instead of Ichiraku. Naruto was genuinely surprised by the action and simply shook it off as nothing to really worry about.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Karin laid on the bed with a glare marring her face. For all she knew, Naruto could be out there with Ino. The redhead sighed and looked off towards the ceiling above her. Something happened the night before that Neither Naruto nor Ino would talk about. But whatever that thing was, Karin felt a strange pull for Naruto. A need to be in his embrace. It was a lingering feeling, something that Karin felt would go away within the next few days, should she keep her distance from him.

But that was something that she didn't want to do. She wanted Naruto to be in her presence. She felt…complete, have you. Naruto made her day whole, especially since they've spent the last, near month together under the same roof. Now, the feeling was different. Karin wanted him close to her, but she didn't understand. Shaking her head, Karin headed out of the bedroom and into the kitchen looking for some food to gorge upon since she was no longer a shinobi.

But thinking back to the offer that Naruto had given her, she felt an inclination to go back and become a kunoichi once more, at least for Naruto's sake. The damned idiot might even need her in the future to sense the enemies that he's too dumb to sense. Karin sighed. Ino was a beautiful girl and maybe a little too beautiful. The two blonds did seem quite comfortable with one another. Karin smirked to herself and finally came to an answer. She was going to be a shinobi of Konoha, just so she can keep Naruto to herself, or so she hoped.

Karin fixed her hair and charged from her room and dashed ahead towards Ichiraku expecting it to be the one place that Naruto would be at after training. With a quick jump over the railing, Karin found herself on a rooftop of one of the newly erected buildings. She looked around to get a good feeling of the village and where she was, relative to the location of Ichiraku. Suddenly, a great wonderful feeling filled her heart and gut as she felt the full brunt of Naruto's chakra.

A small smirk played on her lips as she hopped off of the rooftop and towards the direction that she sensed Naruto. She quickly realized that she didn't have her jacket on revealing the bite marks and scars of her past for everyone to see. Her face darkened as her fear built up nearly causing her to collapse in fear. She hated the scars, she hated it all, and now the people of a village that she was trying to become a part of could now see them. Karin shot her hands up to cover her arms and neck, but it didn't help. Without another thought, the girl took off down the street towards wherever Naruto was in hopes of him keeping her safe.

She weaved in between villagers as they began to spit out their own assumptions and two-cents into her situation and the bite-marks all over her arms and chest. She jumped away and hurdled into an alleyway and continued on her mad dash through the village. She stopped suddenly and leaned her back against a wall of a building nearby and panted slightly before looking back and around for a safe way towards Naruto.

She made a quick and swift movement through the alleyway and dashed through and into the street, only to find herself in the middle of a large crowd of family's and people shopping for whatever they were needing. Suddenly, all heads turned and they stared at Karin with wide disapproving eyes. Some mothers covered their children's eyes. Karin felt her face freeze and the hairs of her bare skin rise.

"Karin?!"

The girl in question spun around and locked eyes with Naruto and Ino. The blonde had her arm wrapped with Naruto's left and had a distraught look on her face. Despite not really liking the competition, Karin felt a bit relieved that the two had shown up to help her.

"Naruto…"

"Come on, we need to get you something to cover you up." Ino grabbed Karin's left arm and started dragging her and Naruto towards the nearest clothing store in the immediate vicinity. Naruto's face was purple when he realized that Ino was actually going to force new clothing onto him. Karin noticed this and couldn't help but giggle.

Within a few days of knowing the blond, she felt that his attachment to the color orange was a bit…much, to say the least. So, Karin was glad that Ino had the most guts out of their entire age group to force Naruto into getting a change in color. Hopefully, since with Naruto almost nothing can go to plan. Oh the memories of how many times Karin had to yell at Naruto for his stubbornness towards changing his color scheme.

In all actuality, she found it kind of cute how every single shinobi and kunoichi of the Konoha eleven had their own color scheme, and each color fit their wearer perfectly. Karin suddenly felt that if Naruto was to change his colors, it might not be the same, so she dug her heels into the ground stopping Ino and Naruto in their tracks while kicking up a massive cloud of dirt and dust behind them.

"No. Let's not change our clothing!" Karin shouted indignantly. "I like the way Naruto-kun looks!"

Silence.

Karin let out a meek gasp before turning away from the two blonds. Naruto was wide-eyed while Ino had a small smirk growing on her face. But it didn't last long before Ino grabbed Naruto and Karin once more and started dragging them down the street, despite their complaints. The blonde girl stopped abruptly and released her hold on the two and turned to face them.

"Ok here's the deal." Ino smiled. "Karin, you need something to cover those markings up. Naruto, you need less orange, another color at least, while I need extra outfits. There's a war coming people. I know you know Naruto so don't act so surprised. Now, come on! Let's shop!"

Once the three entered, the entire staff of the clothing store froze and stared at the orange clad shinobi. Almost immediately the manager of the store waltzed up to the Hero of Konoha and bowed deeply to express his happiness. Naruto looked over to Ino and sent a glare. Ino though shrugged and looked genuinely confused. Karin, knowing better went ahead to check her chakra to find anything that might say that Ino was planning this, but found that Ino was indeed, confused as well.

After the manager and some of the staff finished thanking and basically worshiping the blond shinobi, they finally looked at Ino and Karin. They smiled and asked Ino some questions, but once they looked at Karin, their eyes shot from their heads and sprang back in. One of the eccentric of the staff grabbed Karin and led her towards Kami knows where and started throwing clothes at the redhead, leaving Ino and Naruto at the entrance.

"I guess they trust me to find you suitable clothing for the war and also casual wear." Ino smiled. "You wear this eye sore of a jumpsuit too damn much Uzumaki. Come on."

'Uzumaki?' Karin overheard. 'Why does that sound familiar all of a sudden…?'

In all honesty, Karin had actually never heard Naruto's last name. Never had she even thought to ask. Ever since she was told that he was an orphan, she thought that he probably didn't even have a last name, and also since his heritage was hidden, he probably wasn't allowed to use his father's surname. But Uzumaki? Karin could have sworn that it sounded familiar. Shaking those thoughts from her head, she had to jump forward to catch some jeans and baggy shinobi pants just before they fell to the floor below.

"Ino-chan. Why do I have to get new clothing?" Naruto groaned as Ino threw some shinobi pants at him and a new shirt. "There's really nothing wrong with what I'm wearing…"

"Don't question me Naruto-kun. I'm doing you a favor." Ino smiled as she unclipped a shirt and laid it against Naruto's back for a vague measurement. "Too big. How about this one…?"

Naruto sighed softly and held the growing bundle of clothing in his arms and stared aimlessly out the window of the store. Outside, people were walking with their families and friends, enjoying the heat of the Land of Fire sun. Naruto grunted slightly when he realized that he needed to get some extra training in since there was indeed a war coming. Not completely mastering Sage Mode could end up a problem later on. He also felt that he needed to work on his rasengan. There were so many rasengan variants that could be made, and with the ones that he already has, it's only the tip of the iceberg.

"Perfect!" Ino shouted breaking Naruto from his thoughts. The blonde walked in front of Naruto and laid the shirt onto the bundle of clothes in Naruto's arms. "Can you be a sweetheart and get a cart?"

Naruto was about to reply, but held it in, knowing full well that women weren't ones to argue with, especially if they were anything like Sakura, Ino or Karin. Naruto wanted to facepalm when he realized that all three were almost exactly alike, except that they each had their own special skill sets. But one thing that Naruto really didn't like was the unbelievable strength that the three had when they were angry. The women in his life he sighed.

**"Kage bunshin no jutsu!"** The smoke exploded and two Naruto's were now standing side by side awaiting orders. "You, get a cart. You carry this and put it in the cart and follow me once you're finished."

"Yessir!" The two clones saluted before taking off with the clothes.

"Ino, what's next?" Naruto asked. "Some new color scheme in mind?"

"Of course." Ino smiled. "Here, try this on! I thought that since your original Sage Haori got fucked up, you'd like a new one."

Naruto held the new haori with surprise. It was soft and smooth, almost as if it were made from air. The fabric was tough and seemed to hold chakra, even though it was just a minute amount. The shoulders were sharp much like a blazer or suit jacket would be, instead of the loose ones that his original haori had. On the shoulders, like the standard issue shinobi shirts, there were the swirls.

For as long as he's lived in Konoha, no one ever explained to him the origin of those swirls. It bothered him somewhat since he couldn't understand the design. It was everywhere. On flak jackets, on clothing, hell it was even on the back of his own jacket, and Naruto still had no idea where it came from. He sighed and slipped the haori over his body and was immediately in love with the garment.

It flowed down just to his ankles. The collar only got to the middle whisker on both of his cheeks and stopped there. The sleeves were of perfect length and felt at the same length as his jacket sleeve. The color though, entranced him. It was almost the same color of his mother's hair and Karin's hair combined. The shoulders were tight but felt strong and nice. The haori, even though it had long sleeves, it didn't hinder his movement, if anything, he was more mobile, how, he didn't know.

Ino smiled at Naruto for a bit before taking off towards the more shinobi oriented section of the store, while leaving Naruto to gush over his new haori. After a few minutes, Naruto realized that Ino was gone and he was standing in the middle of the store, staring at himself in a mirror while admiring his body and how good he looked. The blond rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and coughed awkwardly before taking off through the store in search of Ino.

_Twenty minutes later…_

Naruto now stood in front of the cashier with three carts worth of clothing for Ino and Karin, and a bit for himself. Karin and Ino were starry-eyed when they heard Naruto say that he was going to pay for everything. Looking back at his two female companions to make sure he doesn't see Gama-chan cry, he felt his sadness disappear.

Ino stood with a pair of short-shorts and a thin purple blouse. The colors accentuated her body and her skin tone making her seem somewhat…promiscuous for a lack of better words. Karin though, wore a thin long sleeved jacket and a thin blue undershirt that filled out nicely showing off her true chest size, making Naruto's face turn red, even though he'd already seen her. To be frank, Naruto was surprised that women like them would even be seen with him, hero or not.

Even though he's already saved the village from catastrophe, he felt that he still wasn't worthy of any relationships. Come to think of it, Naruto didn't know what he was with Ino. The girl seemed to like him of course, but Karin also seemed to like him. Then he also had to deal with Hinata and Sakura. Naruto wanted to collapse and rub his head until all of his problems vanished. Looking away, he trailed his head upwards and stared at the ceiling.

"Naruto-sama."

Naruto paid no heed and continued to stare aimlessly at the ceiling. Completely mesmerized by the patterns in the ceiling tiles, Naruto didn't even acknowledge the cashier. He simply kept his eyes glued to the ceiling.

"Naruto-kun…" Ino tapped him in his shoulder.

Still no response. Now, Naruto was in a deep trance about things related to ramen and for some unforeseen reason, chicken.

"**BAKA NARUTO!**"Karin roared, scaring Naruto back into reality.

"Naruto-sama, your receipt." The cashier looked at the Hero with a bewildered expression. "Thank you for shopping…"

"Ah, yes. Thank you!" Naruto turned around and had some shadow clones carry the bags out of the store.

The three were now walking down the street towards Ino's house since it was on the way. He had a small squad of ten clones carrying their bags right behind them, while he conversed with the two girls at his sides. His clones grumbled each step since each clone had at least four bags in each hand.

Through the journey, Karin took notice of the world around her and for a second, she thought she felt a small tingle of love come from Naruto's heart. With each emotion memorized and studied and given a different color for future reference, Karin knew that it was love, since love didn't have a color; it was too pure. Karin felt his emotions calm her down once more. Ever since yesterday, before everything went black, she realized that Naruto's peacefulness in his chakra has become much more potent because of the presence of Ino.

Karin fixed her broken glasses and sighed at how distorted and disgusting everything looked through her eyes. Karin frowned slightly and looked around only to see cracked images. If she took off her glasses she knew that she wouldn't see a thing, and it would be just as bad as looking through her ruined glasses, but at least she could see right?

The group stopped and Ino gave Naruto a kiss on the cheek and walked over to Karin and gave her a small hug while motioning for five of the clones to follow the blonde into her house. Karin and Naruto smiled softly and burst into a small bout of laughter. With the remaining five clones following behind, they quickly headed towards their condo.

Without much to say, the two start taking out their clothes and putting them away and folding them. Karin even broke into song trying to kill time. With fewer clothes than Ino had, the two finished their arranging and folding rather quickly. As of now, Karin sat with a bowl of ramen in her hands and the television remote right next to her. She was watching a game show from the capital of crazy people trying to run an obstacle course without any formal training or chakra. Karin giggled and laughed as various traps were sprung sending various objects at the contestants, sending them into the waters below.

The bedroom door swung open and out walked a shirtless Naruto with only a towel covering his lower extremities. He had a toothbrush in his mouth as he swiftly walked through the main hall of their condo, completely ignoring the frozen Karin. The redhead stared at the muscled and surprisingly scarred shinobi walking in past her.

Even though the two of them have lived together, she has never seen him without a shirt since he'd always make sure she wasn't looking or even go so far as to make her close her eyes before he'd enter a room where he needed something. But now, Karin was surprised by the sudden change in routine. She examined his body and found that it was more defined and muscular than Sasuke's, but the most defining feature of his chest was the two scars on his chest, both of them just centimeters from his heart.

Naruto stopped and looked at Karin for a few seconds without any words being said. His face heat up as did Karin's as they both realized that they were staring at each other. Karin was wearing some yoga pants that fit her form perfectly and a thin V-neck t-shirt that showed a bit too much cleavage, whereas, Naruto had left a bit too much crack in the part of the towel that covered his…manhood.

Karin spit out her noodles and coughed slightly and shot her head to face the T.V. Naruto hurried away and into the confines of his bedroom, which was actually Karin's.

_Two hours and a half later…_

Karin sighed after realizing that Naruto was off training like he normally did at this time of day. She sat her bowl down onto the table in front of her and crossed her arms underneath her chest and grumbled silently. She pushed her ruined glasses up her face and looked around for something to keep her mind off of her lack of company. She looked at her watch and the clock on the wall. Hinata was off with her Hyuuga problems and her team so she was out of the question. Temari was always with Shikamaru, so no. Sakura was working at the hospital as always. Ino was working at her flower shop and Tenten was always with Neji.

Karin grumbled and sunk her head into the couch and let out an exhausted sigh. But suddenly, the door sprung wide open and in walked Naruto with a bright smile on his face. Karin was about to say something, but Naruto placed a finger on her lips and lifted her from the couch and put her on his back.

"I'm not Naruto, but rather, I'm a clone." The bunshin replied. "Naruto is in the park with a surprise for you! Come on!"

'_Surprise…for me?_'Karin's eyes were wide with surprise. Hell the getting a surprise was enough surprise in itself for the redhead. '_What the hell are you planning Naruto-kun…?_'

The clone charged from the room and jumped high into the sky causing Karin's glasses to fly off of her face. In a moment of fear, she tightened her grip on the boy and held him as tightly as possible, in complete fear of a world that she couldn't see. Her arms tightened around the clone making him laugh. He landed on the rooftop of a building and dashed off through over the passing civilians, making many of the older generation see small glimpses of Minato carrying Kushina through the skyline of Konoha.

The flowing mane of beautiful red hair, being led by a head of golden locks, many people finally realized who Naruto's parents were. It wasn't that hard to tell, and in the world of shinobi, there's no such thing as coincidence. Karin kept her face buried deep into Naruto's back with her eyes shut tightly. But with a heavy thud, Karin realized that they had landed. The clone placed Karin down onto the ground.

But instead of grass, she felt the softness of cloth. She opened her eyes, but quickly shut them, realizing that it wouldn't help her in any way whatsoever. Suddenly, there was a strange, but smooth feeling wrapped around her head. There was a soft click and there was now a weight on her face where her glasses would normally be.

"Open your eyes Karin…"

It was a soft, enchanting whisper that caused Karin's face to burn up. It was deep and soothing. It echoed through her bones and made her heart beat quicker. The bass reverberating through her body, causing her mind to get hazy. She was too afraid to open her eyes, but once she did, she felt her heart nearly stop.

Above them was a cherry blossom tree. Its pink petals flittering below as the soft winds of Hi no Kuni began to flow through. Off to the horizon, it was the same coloration as their first conversation at Mount Myoboku. The sky was painted in an amber glow with a bit of maroon dashed in. The sun itself was a blood red, almost as red as Karin's hair and eyes. But the colors! Oh the colors! Never had she seen so many blend in together.

But then, she realized that she was also no longer at ground level. She took a quick look around and realized that she and Naruto were at the top of the Hokage Monument. She backed away and held onto Naruto's arm and nearly gawked when she felt how muscled his arms were. She mentally cursed herself for just now noticing all of his features.

"I see that you're enjoying the view." Naruto smiled.

"How could you tell?" Karin replied with a sarcastic look.

"By the way Karin…here. Look in the mirror."

"What why- Oh K-K…" Karin was silent.

She was wearing a pair of black rimmed glasses made from the same metal of kunai, and to be frank, it looked sexy and it made the crimson color of her eyes come out stronger and fiercer. But it was what was wrapped around her head. It was a wreath made of the most beautiful flowers that she'd ever seen in her entire life. They also seemed to be freshly picked and hand woven together as one. She looked over to Naruto and felt tears stinging in her eyes.

"What?" Naruto closed his eyes as a blush formed on his cheeks. "I just thought that even though your personality is beautiful, why can't you look beautiful on the outside…"

"W-What…?" Karin asked with wide eyes.

"For the longest time since we've met, you've always put down your red hair and always called it ugly…" Naruto held her arms tightly and smiled the foxiest smile he could muster. "I know I've said this before but…It's because of your red hair that I think you're beyond beautiful, hell let's be serious here, beyond gorgeous-"

Karin crashed her lips onto Naruto's and pushed him to the ground below. Tears were flowing down her cheeks as they continued. She kept her lips pressed against his, holding the embrace for as long as possible. The entire time, she felt the warning signs telling her to back off and release and let go and run away, but Karin willed herself to see it through to the end, to wait for Naruto to push her away…

But then the blond started kissing back.

* * *

**W00T! I got this out of the brain at the last second! YEAH! So NaruIno is confirmed and now NaruKarin is too?!**

**Sorry if I sounded a bit rude in the first authors note about the NaruIno deal . like I said, I'm a hardcore fan and I can't just let the hate slide.**

**Ja ne!**

**gottahavekyuubi**


	5. Chunin Exams

**SO! I'M BACK! I am hella sorry for the late update, but you know, being a Senior in high school isn't what it's all hyped up to be T^T BUT I'm doing better! HeshaaaH!**

**But! In a few days, maximum a week, I will continue updating Kogane no oji and Search for Greatness! I know it's been a while for both. But if y'all haven't read those stories yet, PLEASE read them! I spent countless hours and days and on Search for Greatness; Months, working on them! Please and thank you all!**

**SO ENJOY THIS CHAPTER!**

** But OMG HAVE ANY OF YOU READ THE NEW NARUTO CHAPTERS (656 and 657) IMHO IT'S EFFING AWESOME! *SPOILER* Fucking Madara fought the war blind in 657 *SPOILER***

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, nor do I think I will.**

**Chapter 5: Chunin Exams**

_But then the blond started kissing back._

Suddenly the entire world sucked into a small hole in the middle of space revealing it to only be nothing more than a daydream. Naruto had a small blush on his cheeks with his hand behind his head. Naruto looked up and locked his blue eyes with Karin's crimson.

"What?" Naruto smiled with a sheepish expression. "I just thought that with your personality being beautiful on the inside, why can't you look beautiful on the outside as well? Not that I'm calling you ugly or anything…"

Karin tilted her head slightly. Naruto suddenly broke into an innate rambling with his fingers flittering and fritzing about with each one. Naruto suddenly ran a hand through his spikey blond hair and gave Karin a nervous smile. Karin felt like giggling but deigned from doing so, wanting to see where this goes. She smirked as she realized that what she saw was a complete fantasy. But then Naruto suddenly shot from his seat and grabbed her two arms and stared at her.

"W-What…?" Karin's eyes were wide as she stared at Naruto.

"For the longest time…you reminded me of someone close to me. So much so, that you even went as far as insulting your wonderful red hair." Naruto suddenly sifted a hand through her unkempt side of red hair. "To be frank, it pissed me off."

"Huh?" Karin's eyebrow rose as she was about to hit him, but Naruto shushed her quite violently. The look on Naruto's face was so convincing, filled with so much love and caring. Even his chakra was sharing the sentiment. A small smirk grew on Naruto's face as he shut his eyes and looked down to the ground just for a bit before looking back up to Karin with fire burning in his eyes.

"I know I've told you this before…but…I think it's because of your red hair that you're more than beautiful, hell, let's be serious, more than gor-"

Karin tackled the blond with a great smile spread across her face. Her lips pressed hard against Naruto's, taking the air from his lungs and causing his cheeks to explode in heat like a raging volcano. The poor blond was completely surprised. His eyes were as wide as the expanse of the stars above crimson sky above him. His heart was exploding and beating faster than Gai and Lee when they train.

He didn't know what to do but he could feel her lips on his own, and to tell the truth, despite knowing how gay it was to compare his kiss with Karin and the one he had with Sasuke…he had to say he liked feminine lips a hell of a lot better. So without much thought into it, Naruto pushed back and started pressing his lips against her while she leaned her head in an angle to get a better experience.

Naruto's tongue suddenly brushed against Karin's own lips. Karin knew exactly what to do and allowed Naruto's tongue entrance, and within moments, their tongues were battling for dominance as Naruto slowly leaned Karin into the ground. But as the battle commenced, the sun continued to set and the land became cooler and the breezes of the mountains to the east came in, but neither seemed to care or notice.

'Uzumaki…' Karin smiled softly as they continued kissing. "Uzumaki…Karin…"

_"What are you going to name your daughter?" The man asked from behind his face mask. All around him were other nurses and doctors it seemed. There were machines nearby with a soft, dull beep. The walls were obviously white, but there was a grey tint to the entire image. The doctor and the nurses were built up around one single bed in the center of the room. _

_ The woman in question was holding a bundle with a cute girl with a tuft of red hair adorning her head. The woman was beautiful with wondrous curves and a head of brunette hair. She had a small smile on her face, but she looked sickly and weak. She was drenched in sweat and sat in a bed without a man next to her or in the waiting room for her. _

_ "Karin." The woman smiled as she cooed at the young child. _

_ "Is there a surname? The surname of the Father?" The man asked. _

_ "Uzumaki." The woman quickly replied almost with pride beaming in her voice, but there was a small crack. "Her father's last name is Uzumaki."_

_ "Uzumaki Karin it is."_

Suddenly, the girl's eyes shot open and she pushed Naruto away from her as some seemingly forgotten memories shot through her hazy mind, completely ridding her of her previous feelings. Karin backed away as quickly as she could with near hyperventilation. She gripped her head as tightly as possible. Karin suddenly felt as if her world was crashing. She couldn't even make eye contact with Naruto.

"K-Karin…what's wrong?" Naruto moved closer with a worried expression on his face. "…Did I do something wrong?"

"N-No…" Karin sighed out. "It's not you…it's…something that just came to my mind."

"What do you mean?"

"It's almost as if someone hid this memory from me…" Karin sighed. "I…I am an Uzumaki!"

Naruto's eyes went wide and his jaw unhinged itself just as his chin smacked the ground. Naruto struggled to process the information but simply collapsed next to Karin and stared at the last bits of sunlight coming from the west, just before the red sun disappeared below the horizon. The two were silent as the awkwardness became palpable, almost gaining an actual physical form.

Naruto felt his body shaking in the sudden realization that he had just made out with one of his family members despite not knowing how close they were or how distant. Karin was faring no different. Her heart was raging and her cheeks were roaring with heat. The redhead's skin was almost as red as her own head of hair. Her crimson eyes darted here and there, trying not to make eye contact with Naruto.

"I-I don't think it's that bad…I mean…" Karin suddenly said trying to salvage whatever was left. "We might not even be that closely related…"

"But we're still family. We share the same name and the same blood flows through our veins…We can't…" Naruto sighed and started to back away from Karin. But the redhead grabbed his right arm as quickly as possible and pulled him towards her. Naruto looked at her with wide eyes, half expecting her to be disgusted, or just any disappointed look instead of the one that she currently had. It was almost as if she was hurt that he would say something like that, but come to think of it, Naruto finally realized that it sounded like he was trying to push her away.

"Wait!" Karin held his arm tightly. "N-Naruto…kun…I really like you though…and so what if we have the same last name? It happens all the time right? "

"Karin, but…hypothetically speaking, we do get together, then what? What do I do about Ino huh, or Sakura, hell, Hinata too?" Naruto asked. "Not to mention that I still have to kill that bastard Sasuke and a damn war that I have to fight…"

Karin still held Naruto's arm and continued to stare at him, not once breaking her crimson gaze. Naruto suddenly realized that Karin was using chakra to hold him in place. Karin though, had no idea. She continued to stare at the blond idiot but then started seeing strange images as the chakra she was using started to build up in her head.

_"Karin…?" Naruto asked with a worried expression. _

_ He looked definitely older with a broader face and stronger jawline. His hair though looked a lot like his fathers. But one thing stayed the same and it was his beautiful cerulean eyes. Karin felt her heart skip a beat when Naruto smiled at her, especially with that cute confused look the Uzumaki had. _

_ "What did you want to tell me?" _

_ Naruto tilted his head slightly causing his bangs to flow down and around his face and neck. Karin didn't know how to respond to the blond haired boy. She turned and faced the newly built village whilst biting upon her fingernails. Karin stopped just at the edge with Naruto on his feet now ready to catch her should she fall off. _

_ "I'm pregnant." Karin replied meekly…_

The world began to shrink and bend. Karin's crimson eyes widened, and she quickly released her grip on Naruto's arm, just before taking off through the darkness to get away from Naruto as fast as she could.

"Karin! Wait!" Naruto dashed after her and quickly caught up with the redhead.

She was standing underneath a light post with a blank look on her face. Her wreath made of flowers still on her head and her metal framed glasses were fit snugly on the bridge of her nose and around the ears. Her breathing was heavy and slow. She shut her eyes just as she sensed Naruto's chakra coming closer with each passing second.

She turned and looked to see Naruto looking at her with a caring expression. Her heart was exploding at this point, but there was something bugging her. Where were these visions, if you can call them that, coming from? But Naruto suddenly grabbed her arms once more and began to lean in with a big smile on his face. Karin didn't know what to do but lean in as well.

Their kiss was short and sweet with Karin losing her confusion and discomfort, but then there was a coming vision heading into her clouded mind, but she willed the thoughts from her mind. She stared off into Naruto's cerulean eyes and gave the blond boy a small smile.

"Hey…Naruto-kun…remember that deal with me becoming a shinobi of Konoha?" Karin asked.

"Y-yeah, what about it?" Naruto asked. "Are you…?"

"Yup! Tell Tsunade-sama that I'm going to accept the offer!" Karin smiled brightly to match Naruto's growing smirk. Naruto quickly grabbed the girl for a tight hug and held her tightly.

"Let's do this!"

_A few days later…_

After spending some time traversing the raging sea of sand that consumed the Land of Wind, the Konoha delegation made it to Sunagakure. There were eighteen teams that were vying for Chunin promotion with Naruto and Karin being the only duo with Kakashi as their sensei. Through the journey, Karin was bugged with date proposals and even some of the kunoichi trying to get a peek at what's underneath Karin's clothes.

Naruto though, through the three days of travelling, was training on gathering senjutsu chakra while he moved, knowing for a fact that using senjutsu would be a great factor of victory in the coming war. Not only that, but he was teaching Karin about her newfound ability with the Mind's Eye of the Kagura. Apparently, because of her Uzumaki blood, the Kagura Shingan was expanded and soon enough, it was able to see more than just chakra signatures.

By reading the chakra and the emotions being portrayed and the fluctuations of the chakra, she was able to start seeing visions of the future, whether just a few minutes or even a few years. Because she needed to read chakra, she could even read your past and see into it by following the chakra residue that every shinobi and kunoichi leaves behind, unknowingly of course. All of this was unlocked by the realization of her true potential as an Uzumaki with special chakra.

With their abilities aside, Naruto and Karin and Ino had a confusing relationship of sorts, if you could even call it that. Karin wanted Naruto and Ino wanted Naruto, but Naruto didn't know who to choose since he really liked the both of them, but Sakura was still in the picture as was Hinata, though Hinata chose to be on the sidelines and watch the other competitors for Naruto's heart battle it out. Sakura though, had no idea that Ino had been dating Naruto or that Karin was too, sort of.

The blond had it good in eyes of many shinobi of konoha. They were jealous of his chick magnet status and wanted to become almost exactly like him. Naruto once he found out that boys and kids were trying to emulate him, he simply shook his head and tried to force the thoughts from his head and enjoy his life as a hero without the hero worship.

But back to Sunagakure, the Chunin exams were in and it was projected to have the most promotions than any other Chunin exam in history. Naruto smirked to himself and felt a small explosion of excitement grow within his chest, the thought of finally rising through the ranks and become one with his friends in the Konoha Eleven. Not only that, but they could become the Konoha Twelve once again with Karin, should she be accepted by the rest of their age group and comrades in the Shinobi Corps.

The two were nervous to say the least, with almost no knowledge about the chunin exams of Sunagakure; they felt that they were going in blind, unlike their first time taking the chunin exams. All around them were genin from all different nations competing most likely to help bolster the Allied Shinobi Force and its numbers. Naruto smirked to himself and shut his eyes as he walked, and slowly but surely, senjutsu chakra began to flow into his body.

Even though it didn't last long, he was able to get at least one minute of senjutsu chakra into his body before it started ruining his eye sight. He wiped sweat off of his brow and continued to follow his team. Naruto smiled at the people of Suna, as they called out to the man who saved their Kazekage. Karin took notice of this and got even closer to Naruto, interlacing her fingers with his, when she found a large group of Suna shinobi giggling with bright blushes spread across their faces.

"Now what did you do to receive such recognition?" Karin whispered.

"Nothing much…" Naruto laughed. "I saved the Kazekage from the Akatsuki some time at the beginning of this year. It's no biggie."

"Y-You took on the Akatsuki to save their leader?" Karin asked. "Sasori and Deidara…"

"I don't know who that is." Naruto said with a blank look.

"You fought them, but didn't know who they were." Karin deadpanned. "Well anyway, Sasori was the redheaded one and Deidara was the blond one with the hands in his mouth. The clay guy."

"Oh. Him." Naruto glared off into the ground. "I was close to killing him that day."

"What happened?" Karin asked.

"I pounded him into the ground." Naruto sighed. "I was so close to shoving a rasengan into his gut, but his body melted into a clay body."

"What happened afterwards?" Karin added.

"What makes you think there's an afterwards?" Naruto gave her an estranged look.

"There's always an afterwards."

"Fine." Naruto sighed. "The Kyuubi within me took advantage of my hatred and anger and I ended up going into a two-tailed bijuu cloak and I nearly killed my own sensei that day were it not for the seal that my former master, Jiraiya, had given him."

"Damn…" Karin sighed. "Let's just hope nothing like that happens again, kay?"

"Don't worry about it, Karin." Naruto smirked.

Naruto smirked and continued on his walk with his girlfriend in hand and headed towards the nearest Suna shinobi that he knew on a personal level. But there was someone he was not expecting to show up in the village.

"Shikamaru?!" Naruto's eyes were wide.

"Naruto…" Shikamaru sighed. "What is it that you want?"

"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked still feeling weird about the fact that Shika of all people made it to the village before him. "I thought that you'd be back home in Konoha!"

"I invited him here Naruto." Another voice said from behind.

"Gaara!" Naruto smiled. "And the other two! Hello Temari and make-up guy!"

"I have a name y'know!" Kankuro spat.

"Yeah, yeah." Naruto smiled and grabbed Gaara in for a tight hug.

"Naruto. Go to the academy with your team. There will be jounin waiting there to get you processed into the exams." Gaara then turned and left the street before any of the civilians could notice that their leader was standing amongst them.

Naruto shrugged and grabbed Karin and began to jog down the street towards the academy, at least where he thought it was. All the while, Karin was blushing wildly as civilians and other shinobi stared at them with smiles and giggles. Karin had never felt like this before, so appreciated. Naruto turned his head to her and continued to smile, and stopped just as they came up to a large building made from sandstone and rock.

There was a massive congregation of shinobi from all over the shinobi nations with shinobi from Iwa and Kumo being among the most numerous. They looked at Naruto and some even felt a little repulsed by the Konoha shinobi, but Naruto paid no heed to their looks, almost as if he was once again back to his oblivious self that he always is.

Whilst Naruto made no action to signify that he noticed their looks, Karin sure did. And to be frank it pissed her off just a tad bit. She didn't know what the deal was with these snot nosed genin, despite them being about their age as well. She looked to see Naruto still smiling that goofy foxy smile and walking past the people with his fingers still interlaced with hers.

Karin felt that the stares were too much and pulled Naruto towards her as quickly as possible and held him close to her.

"What are you doing looking like a careless idiot?" Karin asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about Karin-chan." Naruto smiled. "I'm just being me y'know. I can barely hold in my excitement for the retake of the chunin exams!"

"Why are you so full of energy…?" Karin laughed. "Just work harder on it baka."

"I'll try my best."

Soon enough, the line shortened and Naruto and Karin were now at the front of the line signing papers and waivers ahead of time so Suna wouldn't get blamed for any of the hurt or potentially killed genin of the different nations. Naruto looked at the paper for a moment and got beads of sweat pouring down his head when he realized that some of the words used for certain parts of the waiver used words that were beyond his vocabulary.

So with an embarrassed sigh, he asked Karin for help, gaining some giggles from behind and other lines next to the two Konoha shinobi. Some of the Suna jounin themselves stifled their laughter but held it in better than the genin around them. Karin growled under her breath when she paid attention to what the people around her were saying behind their backs.

Once Naruto and Karin finished, the redhead this time, took the lead and grabbed Naruto towards the door of the academy. But within a few seconds, they were stopped by a jounin. The jounin shook his head and pointed at a sign hanging on the door they were heading for.

_Exit only_

Karin felt her body turn cold with embarrassment and soon enough, many of the less mature genin burst into laughter. Karin gritted her teeth and clenched her fists, digging her fingernails into Naruto's hand. The blond fell to his knees and tried to break his hand free from her vice-like death grip, to no avail. Her chakra darkened and her glasses became drowned out in lens flare from the sun above.

She released Naruto from her grip and began to walk through the crowd with Naruto following behind towards the door that said entrance. Naruto jogged up to her and wrapped his arm around her waist and led her within the building, trying his hardest to keep her from lashing out on anyone. Karin was grumbling to herself making Naruto realize that she was having one of _those_ moments.

"Come on Karin. I think it would be in our best interests if you calmed down just a bit." Naruto whispered quietly, almost like he was pleading.

"Do I look like I need to calm down?" Karin asked in an eerily calm voice. "Look at me…do I need to Naruto-kun?"

Now Naruto was nervous. He didn't like the sound of that voice, nor the smile that she was putting on. He shivered involuntarily and started backing away waving his hands in a defensive manner. Karin though, relented her gaze and looked onward to continue walking towards the testing hall. She closed her eyes and followed the source of the chakra signatures.

She sighed and looked back to see Naruto with his hands in his pockets with his eyes staring at her back. Karin tilted her head, but then realized that something was up with Naruto. He was blushing and his eyes, when the two made eye-contact, darted away from her and his face blushed harder. She could sense his sudden discomfort and he slowed his walking pace while the speed of his heart and emotions were going the speed of light.

_What the hell is he looking at?_ Karin followed his eyes and noticed something. His eyes were fixated on her red hair._ Well then…_ Karin blushed a little harder and turned her head around and started to smile softly. She could sense his happiness, but shook it from her thoughts and continued to follow the trail of chakra signatures leading into a room filled with shinobi and kunoichi.

After a few rights and lefts and even a few complete rotations of the entire floor, Karin and Naruto made it to the first room and they were surprised with the amount. Naruto surmised that there were at least two times as many participants than the Chunin Exams a few years prior. Naruto felt his heart beat heavier but eased when he saw the Konohamaru Corps laughing with some genin squad from Suna that was about the same age as Konohamaru.

"So what's the plan, oh Great Hero of the Leaf?" Karin asked.

"Don't ask me! I failed the Chunin Exams that first time!" Naruto sighed. "I don't know what to do. To tell you the truth, I didn't even know what I was doing the first time. I damn well don't know what I'm doing right now."

"You're impossible." Karin laughed. "I just hope that our proctor is just as easy as the one in Konoha."

"Easy?!" Naruto asked incredulously. "I was about to piss myself that day!"

"If I remember correctly, you were the one that got everyone to keep their wits." Karin smiled.

"Well, I thought it was cool." Naruto huffed.

"Alright everyone. The first stage of the chunin exams will begin momentarily." A voice came from the front of the class.

_Thank Kami that there isn't anything wrong so far with this chunin exam._ Naruto and Karin shuffled past the other genin and pulled out seats next to each other and picked up their pencils, ready for the test, expecting it to be exactly like the one they took in Konoha a few years ago.

"Because of the war, we are changing the first stage of the chunin exams." The jounin said from her pedestal. "Your new assignment is to come up with a three-month battle plan, which should state a detailed three-month battle plan with a timeline. Logical arrangements, supply lines, strategies, missions, squad size, food distribution, everything that a company or a platoon would need to be efficient on the battlefield within an hour."

There were a few groans going throughout the classroom. But Naruto though, had never been as happy as before this moment. He smiled brightly and picked up his pencil and went straight to work once the bell rang to begin. While other testers were struggling to come up with a detailed three-month plan, Naruto was furiously writing down the strategies and plans for the battle-force. With five-man squads as the standard, with four assault shinobi and one medical shinobi, it was a genius plan.

Karin though, was struggling to keep her eyes from prying onto Naruto's papers and those around her. While she was a genius with chemicals and poisons and other such things, she was nowhere near a battle specialist. She was a sensor and a medical ninja. Nothing more, nothing less. She scribbled as much as she can and tried to keep up with her more ecstatic teammate.

Naruto, despite not being anywhere near Shikamaru's level, he was still a mastermind in his own right and in the right situations such as this. He continued to write as other testers were going crazy with their brains and some even went so far as to fall asleep and others even chose to leave the classroom to call a quits. Naruto didn't see what the problem was, but then quickly realized that this was just a bunch of genin in this room trying to come up with strategies on the fly.

Naruto grew a smirk but continued to write, finishing up the second month of his plan and moving on to the more important parts of his battle plan that required more important 'game pieces'. Jinchuriki and the last remaining ones at that. Naruto didn't know whether or not there was another jinchuriki still alive, but if there was, theoretically speaking, Naruto's third month would go off without a hitch, and the jinchuriki tag-team or even squad, would annihilate the Akatsuki after they've been wounded by a significantly powerful force.

The blond looked over to his side to see Karin still only on the first week of her second month with barely anything for her first month. He made a quick look around, fast enough to where the proctors couldn't see, and noticed that many of his classmates were barely entering month two. The boy sighed and finished up his masterpiece of a strategy and placed his pencil down and began to take a nap.

_Forty-five minutes later…_

Karin violently elbowed the blond from his slumber. Naruto rubbed his groggy eyes and smiled when he realized that at least a quarter of the competition was gone. Karin smirked softly at him and ran a hand through her unkempt half of hair and pushed her glasses up her face. She huffed slightly and stuck her tongue out at him.

Naruto shot from the table and looked around fully awake and aware of his surroundings. People were staring at him and some were even snickering. Naruto looked to Karin but she chose to huff and turn away. The proctor looked at him and took his papers and walked to the front of the class. Naruto looked up to the clock behind the proctor and realized that he'd been asleep longer than he'd anticipated. Nearly five minutes after the test was supposed to end.

"Now that we've heard enough about 'eating ramen off of naked redheads', we can now move on." The proctor said without a giggle, but the corners of her lips ticked up and down when she saw Naruto's expression.

"Oh shit…"

"Tell me about it, baka."

* * *

**So here's the new chapter! I REALLY hope you liked it. I was struggling real hard #thestruggle to get this chapter out because of homework and SAT and getting into the US Air Force and such. I know, it's fucking awesome xD**

**Also, those things with Karin will be explained and elaborated on and even powered up later on! SO keep with it my friends!**

** But I guess there will be a new update soon since this school semester is coming to a close. Thank GAWD! Oh and dat Sharkeisha! LMAO and Paul Walker T^T SO many things have happened during my time of absence. I hope this was worth it to y'all!**

**Ja ne!**

**gottahavekyuubi**


	6. The Second Stage

**WOOT! I am back once more! SO sorry for not keeping my promise, but whatever, I have a life too you know! xD but hey! Happy New Year y'all! Guess who's graduating from High School this year? That's right, ME! Anyway, I'm glad and thankful for all of the love that this is getting! **

** So without further ado, here ya go**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Ever. T^T**

* * *

**Chapter 6: The Second Stage**

Naruto smirked as he and Karin walked from the academy with beaming smiles spread across their faces. Karin was saying something important, but Naruto paid no attention to the woman. Karin didn't realize and continued to talk, occasionally asking Naruto something and the blond would say something in response causing Karin to continue on with their conversation.

But Naruto was suddenly smashed against the head by Karin's fist. Naruto turned around and froze in his tracks when he found that Karin looked ready to kill him with her anger. He started backing away, but slipped on a rock and ended up crashing into the sandy ground below. Karin glared at him with her glasses covering her eyes because of the lens flare.

"You BAKA!" Karin roared. "You weren't even listening to me were you?!"

"I-I was! Don't worry about it Karin-ch-"

"Then what did I ask you and what did you say in return?" Karin asked as her fist clenched even tighter.

"I…uhm…I don't know…" Naruto was suddenly blown back by an amazing blast of chakra coming from the irate redhead.

"I asked if you'd like to bang Temari and you answered yes!" Karin shouted. "Then I asked if you'd like to suck another guy's dick and you answered yes!"

"What?!" Naruto turned red from embarrassment. "Are you sure I answered yes?"

"Oh shut up." Karin growled. "I hate you so much."

Karin crossed her arms over her chest and walked ahead of the Uzumaki. Naruto laughed softly and rubbed the back of his head and took off for his woman. Naruto wrapped his arm around her waist, but the woman quickly elbowed him in his gut, causing him to hunch over and hurl on the ground below. People groaned in pain when the elbow made contact, while others shot from their seats to help the hero of Konoha.

Naruto was helped from the dirt path and patted down by kunoichi from the different villages. Karin saw this and stomped right back to her blond man and slapped him upside his head and dragged him away from the mob of kunoichi. Most of which were quite beautiful. Naruto was sweating bullets more than what he should, but he didn't say a thing, knowing that if the wrong thing was said, he would receive another, well-deserved punch across the face.

Soon enough, they reached the destination of the second stage of the Chunin exams. In front of them was a great gate with massive walls to match its size. The flags of Sunagakure were draped over the side, waving in the warm desert wind. But beyond the wall and even over the top, small wisps of sand and sand clouds were seen waving around. If one were to put their ear against the gate, they could hear rushing and crashing sand and other non-desirable creatures going about through the sand dunes.

Karin sensed a mass multitude of creatures ranging from large, to gigantic. His skin went cold when she sensed desert spiders of massive size and even desert scorpions. She shivered greatly getting Naruto's attention. The boy quickly looked her way and wrapped his arm around her protectively.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked softly.

"T-There are…"

"Scorpions, spiders, desert snakes; the whole she-bang!" Temari laughed. "This is the second stage of the Chunin exams! I am Sabaku no Temari, and I am the proctor for this exam!"

A few genin shivered slightly at the mention of such insects and creatures living behind the walls. Naruto felt his own skin turn cold and even felt his bowels want to release from the mere thought of scorpions. But then again, he knew that they wouldn't be a challenge for his awesomeness.

"So here is your mission; survive and fight your way through one hundred miles of desert, infested with animals and insects that have evolved to kill shinobi and kunoichi alike, to deliver four scrolls to checkpoints dotted around the area. The Checkpoints are in twenty-five mile intervals. Surprise, surprise; you only get one scroll each team, so figure out how to get the rest, it really shouldn't be THAT hard to figure out. By the way a small hint; killing is allowed!"

If it weren't for the raging sands behind Temari, one could hear a pin drop a mile away. The air turned cold all of a sudden and teams looked at one another nervously and with wary eyes. Each team examining each other, looking for the weakest teams to pick off first. Naruto narrowed his eyes at the teams from Iwa and Kumo, while Karin started sensing people's chakra signatures and their emotions trying to get a good idea of the weakest teams that made it to the second stage.

"Get to your gates!" Temari shouted. "You have three days to make it to the final checkpoint! Get ready!"

Naruto and Karin sped off to their gate and stood steady. Naruto already gathering senjutsu chakra into his body. Karin shut her eyes and channeled a small, untraceable amount of chakra to work as sonar. Within a second, she was able to pinpoint five teams in their immediate vicinity. Three of which were weaklings from Kiri.

"Begin!"

Without a second thought, all teams shot forward into the walled desert. Karin ran ahead of Naruto and jumped into the air. Naruto ran ahead and Karin landed on his back with her hands in a tiger hand seal. Naruto continued running and now, he was in sage mode. He was able to sense already, ten teams have been defeated by animals, and two have already fallen prey to an Iwa team.

"Naruto! To your right!" Karin shouted.

Suddenly, a barrage of kunai and shuriken shot towards the blond Uzumaki. With a quick movement of his wrist, he drew out a kunai and blocked a great deal of the projectiles and narrowed his eyes at his assailant. They were two Kumo teams with the same thought of defeating the Hero of Konoha, not that they even knew who he was.

The first charged for Naruto without checking his surroundings, but Karin jumped in and kicked the shinobi in his gut, before bashing her elbow into the shinobi's back. She kicked off of his fallen body and with an even quicker motion; she managed to even swipe their scroll in the confrontation. She smirked a little and ran away before jumping onto Naruto's back.

The Kumo shinobi charged after the two Uzumaki, but they were stopped when an Oodama Rasengan smashed into the desert surface, throwing up sand and dirt, covering Naruto's and Karin's escape. Once the dirt cloud dissipated, all that was left though were two clones of Naruto. They smirked before dispelling.

A few yards away, Naruto was running full speed with now, two scrolls in his possession. He smirked and jumped up using senjutsu to increase the strength in his jump. Around the two shinobi, they looked down to see giant creatures jumping from the sand and taking out entire teams with single swipes. When they landed, they landed right in the path of a rising scorpion.

Its black exoskeleton made Naruto's skin freeze in fear, but Karin wasn't faring any better. Naruto though, quickly snapped from his stupor and charged forward with a rasengan in his palm. The scorpion snarled at the Uzumaki. Naruto shook his head and slammed the rasengan into the scorpion, shooting it a good twenty feet; just before it dug its stinger into the sandy surface and spun it back around. It landed all eight of its feet onto the sand just before it charged at the Uzumaki.

"I-I-I-It's coming!" Karin howled.

"I know that!" Three Naruto clones popped into existence and the three clones started forming a rasenshuriken. The scorpion closed the distance too fast, and dispelled the three clones with a single swipe of its stinger. Naruto jumped back and tightened his hold on Karin as he struggled to keep free from the range of the apparent extending stinger.

"We have to get around this thing!" Naruto shouted over the clicking and crackling of the insect. The scorpion shot its stinger down towards the Uzumaki, but Naruto jumped away and formed another three clones that grabbed the stinger and lifted the scorpion from the ground and slammed it into the sand using the amazing strength that senjutsu provides.

The clones jumped onto the underbelly of the scorpion and used the frog slap, bashing the thin, unprotected underbelly of the beast, repeatedly. But as they continued, one of the clones put too much chakra into the attack and burst the scorpion in all directions, spraying the sands with its insides and entrails. But from the blood and flesh, spraying from the now empty husk of a scorpion, a team of partially digested shinobi from Kiri, flowed out with three scrolls clutched tightly in their hands.

Naruto looked up to the sky and let out a quick whistle. He smirked. "There must really be a Kami..."

"Whatever. Just get the scrolls." Karin jumped off of Naruto's back and sifted through the bodies and grabbed the scrolls. She wiped them clean of stomach juice and read that the three scrolls had numbers on them, one to three in consecutive order. She looked to Naruto and asked for the scroll. "Hmm. It seems that we have two number one scrolls."

"Let's keep them both. We can use them as a bargaining chip with other teams that have the scroll we need." Naruto quickly said with a smirk. "If they don't have the scroll we need, we could always farm for more and beat them down."

"Oh Naruto. You're getting pretty violent." Karin smiled and climbed back onto Naruto's back. "I can sense the first checkpoint to the northeast."

"Got it!"

Naruto charged through the sands, kicking up a massive cloud right behind them. He smirked at how easy this chunin exam was. Already he was able to piece together the meaning of the tests. While the first was quite obvious, he was now able to see what the second test would bring out. It was a trial to see what shinobi would be willing to make it in the messenger corps. He remembered reading about them with Karin one day, and found that it was probably the second most dangerous position to be in, other than a vanguard shinobi. If one could survive running through a desert and deliver the correct scrolls to the correct checkpoint, then they were good enough to continue on through to the final stage. They were good enough to be in the messenger corps.

The two continued on their journey towards the checkpoint without much interaction with the other teams, which went well into the hundred. But with the first checkpoint closing in with just a few hundred yards to go, a massive heat wave shot down upon them, slowing the Uzumaki down. Naruto made a quick jump from the ground and soon enough, an Iwa genin shot from the ground. Or at least, he thought it was a genin. The rest of her team shot from the ground as well and released a barrage of earth jutsu and fire techniques. All of which Naruto dodged thanks to Karin and her sensing ability.

"Watch out! A clone is coming from underneath us!" Karin called out.

Suddenly, a clone of the kunoichi of the team shot from the ground, and she barely missed Naruto's chin. The clone spun in mid-air and hurled kunai at Naruto and Karin as she spun. Naruto jumped back and dropped Karin and drew out his own kunai and started deflecting the attacks. But because of this, he wasn't thinking and ended up leaving Karin unattended for.

Once the Kunoichi from Iwa stopped her spinning she sped through a quick hand seal pattern and shot out a massive stream of water and blew Naruto back with a force equal to getting kicked in the chest by a raging horse. Naruto struggled to get back to his feet. Soon enough, the same kunoichi was flying through the air with her fist exploding with chakra.

"Oh fuck!" Naruto quickly rolled over and hurled a few shuriken and kunai in a failed attempt to stop her, but her chakra deflected the attacks. The girl slammed into the sand, launching a massive storm of sand and dirt in all directions, and even managed to blow Naruto away even further. He struggled to push through the sand, but in the end, the sand was blown away by the winds of the desert.

"Karin!" Naruto cried out. "Where are you?!"

Naruto dashed through the sands and crawled through the dunes wondering where the girl was. It didn't take long, but Karin was lying on the ground with a massive gash across her abdomen. Karin was slowly healing herself, but the Iwa shinobi were in front of her with their weapons drawn. The four scrolls were askew behind Karin.

"They seem to have the same scrolls that we do." The lead Kunoichi sighed. "I guess we should keep them."

"What do we do with the girl?" One of her teammates asked.

"Do what you want."

Naruto shot through the sand and lodged his foot into the larger of the three, forcing the boy into the sand. The blond quickly spun around and dug his fist into the chin of the other, knocking that boy from his sandals. Naruto looked to Karin with his eyes blood red in the first stage of the jinchuriki cloak. His whiskers were darkened and more defined and his body was healed of any and all wounds.

But the two genin he had just disposed of, were actually clones. The real shinobi came up from the sand and grabbed Naruto's ankles and pulled him into the sand. The shinobi then rose from the ground and smirked with their team leader. The Iwa shinobi were about to continue what they were doing, until Naruto spoke up.

"What is your name?" Naruto asked. His eyes were shut to the world. Naruto's whiskers reverted back to normal, but something strange was happening with his eyelids.

"Kurotsuchi."

"Well…Kurotsuchi…I'm Uzumaki Naruto! Sage of Konoha!" Naruto raised his arms, blowing back almost a thousand pounds of sand, and forcing himself from the sand. Kurotsuchi's eyes shot wide open as she and her team were blasted away from the two Uzumaki. Before Karin and the scrolls could get swallowed by the sand, Naruto jumped back and grabbed the girl and the scrolls with a quick movement.

A clone popped next to them and hurled Naruto into the sky and out of the pit hole. They spun through the air as Naruto grabbed Karin closer to him. He took the now floating scrolls and quickly slid them into Karin's shirt without her noticing. He knew it was a bit dirty, but if it was to mean their survival, he was going to do whatever it took.

They spun once more as they tilted towards the ground, and Naruto pushed her away and grabbed her once more, wrapping her arms and legs around him, just before he hit the ground below. The impact threw up a perfect cover of sand and dirt. Karin was starting to breathe hard as the wound continued to bleed. Naruto didn't even need to look back. He simply charged off through the sand cloud and into the desert around them.

He jumped into the stones protruding from the sand and started skipping along, all the while feeling Karin's breath get heavier. It seems that Karin was having trouble healing her wound. Naruto wanted to set her down, but he knew that those Iwa shinobi were probably on his tail. Of course though, like almost always, Naruto jinxed himself the moment the thought was made.

The three Iwa shinobi pushed themselves from the sand and immediately followed after the Uzumaki. Naruto felt his body run cold when he realized that he'd basically run into a path for them to take him and his girlfriend, kill them, and take their scrolls. Kurotsuchi sped through a quick hand seal pattern and shouted out a jutsu that Naruto deigned from hearing, and soon enough, a barrage of quicklime bullets shot forward, grazing a couple hairs off of Naruto's head.

He spun around and formed three clones to deal with the Iwa shinobi. The three clones shot off towards Kurotsuchi and her teammates. The lead clone jumped and kicked for Kurotsuchi, but she quickly caught the attack and hurled him to her right, causing him to bump into another clone, dispelling the two of them, leaving the final clone to Akatsuchi.

Kurotsuchi nodded her head and took off with her other teammate and gave chase to the retreating Uzumaki from Konoha. The black haired girl shook her head and nodded at her teammate. The boy sped through a quick hand seal pattern and shot forward a steady stream of fire, which quickly exploded into a massive dragon that sped forward on a warpath to incinerate Naruto and Karin.

"N-Naruto…" Karin whispered. "My wound…it's festering…all of this sand and dirt…"

"Don't speak Karin…" Naruto said back with a frown on his face. "It'll only make things worse. I'll get us to the checkpoint, and there might be help."

'Oi, Kyuubi.' Naruto suddenly said.

'What do you want Gaki?' The Kyuubi replied. 'As you can most likely see, I'm taking a nice nap.'

'Give Karin some of your chakra.' Naruto stated. 'She needs it to stay conscious.'

'Now why would I give chakra to another Uzumaki?' The Kyuubi taunted.

'Damn you Kyuubi!' Naruto shouted. 'Fine, if not for me, then do it for you!'

'How does saving her, help me?' The nine-tailed fox fought hard not to laugh at the notion.

'Without her, I'll most likely die here, and if I die, So. Do. You.' Naruto replied with a stern voice. The Kyuubi was about to start laughing, but he quickly resigned the thought, knowing that the boy was right. With a begrudging sigh, the Kyuubi let out a smirk.

'You humans are annoying.' The Kyuubi laid his head back down onto his paws and shut his eyes for just the moment. Naruto was about to say something, but the Kyuubi's chakra shot from the cage and entered Naruto's body, but just as it entered, it disappeared, almost as if it was being funneled off somewhere else. The Kyuubi smirked once more. 'Get out of here and let me sleep Gaki.'

Back in the real world, Naruto came to reality and turned to see Karin's eyes a darker crimson than before and with a slitted pupil in the center of her irides. Her fingernails were extended and small whisker marks were formed on her cheeks. She looked to Naruto with a surprised look on her face, but didn't say anything. Instead, she channeled chakra and her wounds healed immediately, and her range of sensing was increased tenfold.

"Naruto, keep running! The checkpoint is just fifty yards away! We're very close!" Karin shouted out while grabbing some kunai and hurling them back at the Iwa shinobi chasing after them. "I'll hold them off alright?!"

"Let's go!" Naruto channeled chakra to his legs and took off running, trying his hardest to make it to the checkpoint. From what he was able to discern from the vicious attacks that the Iwa team was giving them, the Checkpoints are safe zones.

"Naruto, jump!" Karin suddenly screamed. "Jump now!"

Naruto didn't question her and jumped as high as he could. As he jumped though, he could feel his senjutsu chakra leaving his body once more. He looked down to see the largest snake he'd ever seen in his life. Easily twice as large as the purple snake that Orochimaru used all those years ago. It was covered in sand and its body was obviously shedding.

The three Iwa shinobi down below froze in their tracks, but unlike what Naruto knew that most of his friends would do, the Iwa shinobi jumped back and started hurling ninjutsu and weapons at the snake in quick succession. It didn't take long, but they quickly realized that long range wasn't going to cut it. Kurotsuchi charged forward with chakra building up in her fist and smashed it into the snakes face, forcing at least a fourth of it back into the sand.

She landed on the ground and sped through another pattern of hand seals.

"**Youton:** **Sekkaigyō no Jutsu!**" Kurotsuchi spit a massive blast of quicklime, quickly mixing into the face of the snake, forming a mold around it. She went through another, just as quick, hand seal pattern, and shot another blast of water, much like the one she used to blow Naruto back, not too long ago. The combination of the two jutsu, brought the snake curling down to the ground, but it did not stop the snake. Kurotsuchi landed on the ground with fear crawling up and down her spine. She sped through another quick hand seal pattern. She took a deep breath and spit forward a ball of fire that was equal to Sasuke's use.

The snake didn't falter though, in fact, it was practically unscathed. The quicklime started crumbling and falling off of the snakes face. Naruto and Karin landed just a few feet away from the backside of the snake. Naruto looked to Karin and was wondering if he should help them. Karin, even though the thought wasn't said out loud, she knew what Naruto was about to do. But before she could hold him back, Naruto was already halfway up the snake's spine and nearing the top of its head.

"Goddamn him." Karin let out and exasperated sigh. "Naruto! Be careful! From what I can tell, its scales are strengthened with chakra! And lots of it!"

Naruto grunted when he heard what she had just said. For years he's been punching through things, blasting through things and rasengan…ing through things that have been 'strengthened' with chakra. First Haku's mirrors, then the sand armor of Gaara, then Gaara himself, then on and on. Naruto smirked and knew deep down inside that this snake was going to be of no problem.

He jumped onto its head and raised his hand with a rasengan spiraling violently. He let out a loud battle cry and slammed the attack into the snake's bare and unprotected head, forcing the beast into the ground, faster than the speed of light. Naruto landed next to Kurotsuchi and drew out a kunai whilst drawing onto Senjutsu chakra. Kurotsuchi was quite terrified of Naruto's power. Soon enough, Karin dropped next to them and placed her hands on Kurotsuchi's shoulder and began to heal her wounds.

"Hold still." Karin replied. "Naruto what did you do? It looks like nothing changed…"

"I had a quick theory about those chakra enhanced scales." Naruto said. "If I were to dispel my rasengan at the moment of impact, instead of drilling it into the scales, which would most likely deflect the attack, the chakra from the rasengan would lose the gravity holding it together and spiral off in different directions, causing the chakra within each individual scale within the spread radius to fluctuate, weakening the flow of chakra to the protective shield of the snake's cranium."

"So in other words…" Karin started smirking.

"I've given it the headache of a lifetime." Naruto smiled. "Kurotsuchi-san. Do you think you can help me bust this snake's skull right open?"

"Gladly!" Kurotsuchi jumped forward just as Naruto did.

The Snake saw this though and lunged forward with its head and dug into the ground below, kicking up sand and injuring Akatsuchi and almost killing their other teammate. Naruto and Kurotsuchi landed on the back of the snake's neck and charged up with their best attacks blaring wildling in their hands. With Kurotsuchi having a fist made from earth and Naruto having two clones behind him helping him make his rasenshuriken.

The two jumped up into the air and first went Kurotsuchi with her slamming the rock fist of hers into the snakes dented cranium, causing the scales to shoot off, cracking a great deal of the skull itself, revealing the targeted area. Naruto's clones popped away leaving him in the air as he got ready to hurl his rasenshuriken into the brain of the blasted snake.

**"FUUTON: RASENSHURIKEN!"** Naruto bent forward and hurled the monstrosity of a jutsu forward just as Kurotsuchi made a jump off of the doomed snake's head. The rasenshuriken sliced through the air and dug deeply into the opened head of the snake, slicing, tearing and mauling the beast. Naruto narrowed his eyes and soon enough, the rasenshuriken exploded, engulfing the entire head of the snake, tearing it apart and lodging small chakra spikes into its face, skull and any other part connected to its head.

Naruto landed not too far away and popped his neck before walking up to the group of fellow shinobi. Karin was struggling to keep Akatsuchi's bleeding at a minimum. She pumped as much of her chakra as she could, and she was still in the Kyuubified state. She narrowed her eyes and started channeling in the Kyuubi's chakra, strengthening her skills and her powers. Within moments though, Akatsuchi's bleeding stopped, but the damage to his body was still on the inside.

"It's poison." Karin stated after running her hand over Akatsuchi's body. "I don't know how to stop it without the correct antidote."

"Karin…" Naruto said suddenly. "You know what you have to do. Remember what you've told me about your powers…"

"But you said…"

"I'm saying do it now. We have to help him." Naruto said with a calm look.

"Understood Naruto-kun." Karin rolled up her sleeve and held out her arm. "Bite my arm."

"What are you minions doing?!" Kurotsuchi growled. "What-"

"Be quiet and watch." Naruto quickly said.

Akatsuchi struggled, but was able to sink his teeth into Karin's arm. The redhead grunted in pain, but let out a quiet sigh instead. Kurotsuchi though was appalled. But upon closer inspection, chakra was being funneled from Karin and into Akatsuchi. It didn't take long, but the effects were immediate. Akatsuchi's once pale and sickly looking body was healed and after doing a quick diagnostic over Akatsuchi, Karin confirmed that the poison was no more.

"H-How…?" Kurotsuchi's eyes were wide with fright. "Who are you two?!"

"That is of no concern right now." Naruto grabbed Karin and hoisted her onto his back right before taking off in the direction Karin pointed.

Karin smiled softly and rested her chin on Naruto's shoulder and let her hair run free in the desert wind. Naruto was strong and held her tightly against his back, making sure that she would fall off. The day was already at midday, and he wasn't looking forward to having to have a schedule of one checkpoint per day, with four for three.

He shook his head and continued to run taking orders from the girl he was carrying. She wasn't heavy nor was she a feather, but Naruto was thinking about complaining to the girl about why he has to carry her. Then again, if he did ask, Karin would probably smack him against his head or call him lazy, or something to some other effect of endearing insults.

Karin tightened her hold on him and felt a big smile grow on her face. The longer she stayed with Naruto, the more distinguished his chakra became to her. So far, she was able to capture and memorize ten different moods from the boy, just by reading his chakra. As of now, it was grey-green, meaning, he was thinking hard and was bound to say something insulting to someone. Since she was the only person there, she knew that he was going to complain about him carrying her.

She did try and tell him that she could run on her own. Damned blond trying to be chivalrous. Karin struggled to keep her giggles in. She looked up though when she sensed the checkpoint nearby, just a few feet away from where they were currently.

"Naruto, we're here." Karin said.

"Where?" Naruto asked. "There's nothing here…wait."

"Genjutsu." Karin said. "Wait, Naruto, don't dispel. We don't want brainless teams to be after us now do we?"

"I would like to…" Naruto cheekily replied.

"No one cares what you want." Karin retorted with a laugh.

"Troublesome woman…"

"Tch! Just go already!"

One down, three to go.

* * *

**So here's the first part of the Second Stage of the Chunin Exams! **

**I hope you had fun and enjoyed it!**

**Ja ne!**

**gottahavekyuubi**


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